It has been nearly five months since YSR Congress party president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy took over as the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. A week later, he formed his full-fledged cabinet.
However, the ministers have not been allotted adequate staff, like personal assistants, private secretaries, additional personal secretaries and Officers on Special Duty (OSDs) even after a couple of weeks.
A week after the cabinet formation, chief minister’s principal advisor Ajeya Kallam issued an order stating that all the personal staff members could be appointed only after getting clearance from Jagan.
The ministers were clearly told not to appoint the officials and PAs, who had worked with the ministers in the previous Telugu Desam Party government.
Even the security personnel would be allotted to them only after getting clearance from the chief minister.
Apparently, this was to ensure that the personal staff of the ministers do not indulge in corruption with or without the knowledge of the ministers, as had happened during the TDP regime.
It was only after getting the green signal from the chief minister, the ministers were provided with their personal staff in their peshis.
Now, there is yet another glitch for the ministers. They are not getting the approval for appointment of public relations officers (PROs) in their departments to disseminate information about the programmes being taken up by them and their tours in the constituencies to the people through media.
Sources said after sitting over the file sent by the office of Information and Public Relations Minister Perni Nani, the finance department returned the file of appointment of PROs in the ministers’ peshis, on the ground that there were no funds for payment of salaries for the PROs.
Here, too, the ministers were asked to appoint the PROs only after getting the clearance from the CMO. Apparently, CM’s communications’ advisor had objected to the ministers appointing the PROs of their choice.
Though some ministers have agreed to appoint the people suggested by the communications’ advisor as PROs, they were yet to get the approval, it is learnt.
Sources said the ministers are now grumbling for not able to convey to the people what good works their departments are doing.
“Even the ministers’ tours in the districts to participate in various programmes are not getting any media coverage due to lack of PROs,” a minister lamented.