The structure of the village and ward secretariats will be rehashed based on the population, says I&PR Minister Kolusu Parthasarathy.
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The Andhra Pradesh State Cabinet has cleared the proposal to rationalise the village / ward secretariats and functionaries for effective implementation of the Real Time Governance at the village / ward level.

The idea is to achieve the goals of Swarna Andhra Vision-2047.

Addressing the media at the Secretariat on Friday, Information and Public Relations (I&PR) Minister Kolusu Parthasarathy said the structure of the village and ward secretariats would be rehashed based on the population.

The village / ward secretariats would be divided into three categories. While there would be a population of more than 3,500 in Category A secretariats, Category B secretariats would have a population in the range of 2,500 to 3,500, and Category C secretariats a population of up to 2,500.

There would be eight functionaries each in the 4,263 village secretariats and 1,791 ward secretariats falling under Category A. Under Category B, there would be seven functionaries each in the 3,884 village secretariats and 1,504 ward secretariats. In Category C,  there would be six functionaries each in the 3,015 village secretariats and 547 ward secretariats.

A flexible approach would be adopted in the case of tribal areas and remote habitation, he said, adding, after the rationalisation of the functionaries at the secretariats, the required number of functionaries would be positioned and the workload distributed equally, without any burden on some of the employees, he said.

Non-uniform deployment of staff and different village / ward secretariats having disproportionate population were adversely affecting the functioning of the secretariats, he said.

It was resulting in underperformance in the delivery of services and schemes, the Minister said. Also, it was causing a delay in the conduct of various surveys entrusted by the government, he said, adding, it prompted the government to rationalise the staff in the secretariats.

Mr. Parthasarathy said the ‘Aspirational Functionary’ was aimed at adopting emerging technologies such as IoT, AI, drones and other deep technologies in governance.

The village / ward  secretariats would adopt AI, drone technology and IoT for better delivery of services in a more transparent manner. The performance of employees would be appraised and the services of the best employees would be recognized and appreciated accordingly, he said.