Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy greeted by newly appointed State Chief Secretary K. Ramakrishna Rao, in Hyderabad on Monday.
| Photo Credit: ANI
The stage is set for Finance Special Chief Secretary K. Ramakrishna Rao to formally take charge as the new Chief Secretary of Telangana on Wednesday (April 30) evening.
The senior bureaucrat is expected to face some challenges once he assumes office after current Chief Secretary A. Santhi Kumari demits office. Managing the State finances where revenue receipts are not up to expected levels is one of the major tasks before the new Chief Secretary. Mr. Ramakrishna Rao has the record of preparing 14 budgets, including two vote-on-account budgets, during his decade long stint in the Finance department and Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy placed him in full additional charge of Finance portfolio recognising his acumen in the area.
The immediate task before the new Chief Secretary is to study the report prepared by the Central Empowered Committee on the controversial Kancha Gachibowli lands and finalise the State government’s stand on the issue in consultation with the Chief Minister before May 15 when the Supreme Court listed the matter for hearing.
Another major area where he has to focus attention is in ensuring effective coordination between the departments as at least some departments reportedly continue to work in silos. Former chief secretary Rajiv Sharma used to hold inter-departmental coordination meetings on a regular basis to guide them about the approach towards crucial issues.
These meetings were aimed at forging understanding among the departments about the levels at which issues of immediate public importance are to be resolved without escalating them to the level of Ministers concerned and the Chief Minister unless their attention was demanded. There have been no such meetings since the past few years to review the issues pertaining to key departments like for instance, the court cases, filing of counters and stays granted on some major issues.
The State will however have a strong voice in the form of Mr. Ramakrishna Rao in defending its cause in the pending bifurcation issues with the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. Mr. Ramakrishna Rao was entrusted with the reorganisation affairs since 2014 and is well versed with the State’s concerns arising out of bifurcation.
He has been the lone voice defending the State in the meetings convened by the Union Home Ministry in addition to presenting the concerns effectively in the forums like the Southern Zonal Council meetings. His understanding of the issues can be seen from the fact that he was instrumental in creating an exclusive portal for reorganisation affairs as Director-General of the Centre for Good Governance containing exhaustive information about bifurcation right from the details of each of the employee allotted to the two States.
Published – April 29, 2025 06:20 pm IST
