Marking a 'historic' occasion, four departments of Andhra Pradesh today formally moved into the New Government Transitional Headquarters (GTH) -- also called the temporary Secretariat -- at Velagapudi village in the state capital region Amaravati.
Panchayat Raj, Housing, Medical and Health and Labour Departments moved into fifth block at the GTH though the infrastructure is only half ready.
Panchayat Raj Minister Ch Ayyannapatrudu and Housing Minister K Mrinalini occupied their chambers in the presence of their colleagues Deputy Chief Minister (Home) N Chinarajappa, Water Resources Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao, Agriculture Minister P Pulla Rao and Excise Minister Kollu Ravindra at 2.59 PM even as about 150 Secretariat employees were driven in in special buses from Hyderabad.
AP Chief Secretary Satya Prakash Tucker, Special Chief Secretary (Political) Jagdish Chander Sharma, Principal Secretary (Labour) G Anantaramu and other officials were present on the occasion.
"It's indeed a historic event as the administration moved to its own state," the Deputy Chief Minister remarked, and welcomed the employees.
The Chief Secretary said it would take at least 50 more days for the entire government machinery to move base completely to the capital region from Hyderabad, which would continue to be the joint capital of AP and Telangana for eight more years as per the AP Reorganisation Act-2014.
"Blocks in the GTH will be ready in phases by July 6, 15 and 21. By then we hope to relocate the various Secretariat departments. Things will settle down by August 15. Many offices of the Heads of Departments (Commissionerates and directorates) have already started functioning from different places in the capital region," Tucker told reporters.
For the government staff who relocated to the capital region from Hyderabad, the government started implementing the five-day week work rule.
"We are arranging special buses while a new super fast train has also been introduced between Vijayawada and Secunderabad for easy commuting of employees," the Chief Secretary added.
Meanwhile, office of the Chief Commissioner of Land Administration was opened this morning at Gollapudi on the western side of Vijayawada.
CCLA Anil Chandra Punetha formally opened his office in a private rented building.
The HoD office of Roads and Buildings Department was also inaugurated at Gollapudi by the minister Sidda Raghava Rao.
