Andhra Pradesh health secretaries seek merger with Health Department, cite heavy workload and stress
Health secretaries working in Andhra Pradesh's village and ward secretariat system have urged the state government to merge their posts with the Health and Medical Department, saying the present arrangement leaves them answering to two departments at once and causes severe work pressure and mental stress.
The United Gram and Ward Secretariat Health Secretaries Welfare Association submitted a petition to the Visakhapatnam District Collector on Monday during the Public Grievance Redressal System (PGRS) programme. The PGRS is a periodic forum at which individuals and employee groups can place their grievances before district officials for redressal.
G. Subhashini, a state-level leader of the association, said health secretaries are at present accountable to two separate departments and carry out responsibilities assigned by both. She urged Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to intervene and resolve the matter.
The association's main demand is that health secretaries serving under the Swarna Gramam and Swarna Ward secretariats be brought under the Health and Medical Department, so that their work is supervised by a single department rather than divided between two.
Health secretaries are field-level functionaries in the secretariat system and are involved in taking health and welfare programmes to the village and ward level. The association argues that splitting their duties between departments adds to the administrative burden on each post.
Along with the merger, the association placed a set of service-related demands before the administration:
- Removal of what it described as unnecessary mobile applications and the OTP system used for official work
- Workplace-based attendance marking through the FRS system
- Restoration of the Old Pension Scheme in place of the Contributory Pension Scheme
- Promotions for eligible employees
The Contributory Pension Scheme, under which an employee contributes a part of the salary and the government contributes a matching share, replaced the Old Pension Scheme for new government recruits from 2004. Restoring the old scheme has been a long-standing demand of employee associations in several states, and it remains a politically sensitive subject in Andhra Pradesh.
On attendance, employee groups have repeatedly argued that the method of marking presence should match the place where duty is actually performed. The association has linked this demand to what it calls avoidable stress on field staff.
There was no immediate comment from the district administration or the state government on the petition. Grievances submitted at the PGRS are normally forwarded to the concerned departments for examination and, where possible, redressal.
The petition adds to a wider discussion in the state about how the secretariat system, which was set up to deliver government services at the doorstep, should be staffed and supervised. Employee associations have in the past raised concerns about overlapping duties, staffing levels and service conditions in the system.
It remains to be seen whether the government will take up the merger proposal, since it would involve changes in the administrative structure and the reporting lines of a large number of field functionaries. For now, the association's petition has been placed before the district administration, and its demands await an official response.
