Post bifurcation, of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh into Telangana and Andhra States, the Ayush department in Telangana is stalled and has become defunct having no bureaucrats to carry out the various administrative functions in the department. In view of this, the Ayush college principals and aspiring Ayush candidates in Telangana fear that the counseling process for admissions into Ayush stream of medicine for the current year may be delayed.
As most of the top bureaucrats who held the post of commissioner, additional commissioner or deputy commissioner have been shifted to Andhra region as part of bifurcation, now all these top posts in Telangana region are left vacant.
According to Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act 2014, the Kamalnath Committee has already issued guidelines for the division of employees among the two states. In its guidelines, the committee has given options for the employees to choose their choice of state. It is learnt that as most of the top officials are from Andhra region, many have opted to go to Andhra Pradesh. Moreover during the initial provisional allotment of the employees, the earlier state government had also divided the employees irrationally, which has ultimately created a kind of void in the Telangana Ayush department.
At present the post of commissioner, additional commissioner or deputy commissioner in the Ayush department are vacant. Because of this the administrative works are totally stalled as there is no one to head the department to guide the lower rung of employees.
A major worry is that the admission process for Ayurveda, Homoeopathy and Unani medical seats will be affected, as the counseling sessions for admissions are expected in just a weeks’ time. Already the Andhra Pradesh government had issued notification and has asked the students to get their certificates verified by August 7, while the Telangana government is awaiting the Supreme Court order for conducting the admission counseling.
“The division was done haphazard as employees were picked up and separated at random. Now there are 15 vacancies in Telangana department, including that of the commissioner. While Telangana has no commissioner, Andhra Pradesh Ayush commissioner has no place to sit,” explained a senior officer.
In Telangana, there is one, Homoeopathy, one Unani and two Ayurveda colleges. The principals of colleges are in a fix as they do not know whom to approach to proceed with the admission process. “At present we have no option, but to wait and see till the state governments issues an order,” says Dr Mallu Prasad, principal of Ayurveda College in Telangana.