Frequent Bureaucratic shuffle weakening Governance: Former Minister Harish

Former Minister and BRS Legislature Party Deputy Leader T Harish Rao strongly criticised Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, alleging that frequent transfers of senior bureaucrats have severely affected governance in Telangana. Addressing the media during an informal interaction, Harish Rao said the Chief Minister has failed to gain control over the administration, resulting in instability across key departments.

He pointed out that the State government has carried out nearly five major reshuffles of IAS and IPS officers within a short period. According to him, more than 140 IAS officers have been transferred so far, including around 20 District Collectors. He stated that several heads of departments have not even completed eight months in their positions, which has disrupted administrative continuity.

Harish Rao said constant changes in leadership have created turmoil in several departments. In the power department alone, five senior officials have been replaced within two years, which he claimed has adversely affected the functioning of the sector and led to rising corruption. Similar frequent changes were seen in Singareni, GHMC, Information and Public Relations, School Education, Panchayati Raj, Municipal Administration, IT, Mining and the National Health Mission, he said. In Aarogyasri, as many as eight officials were changed during the same period.

He also criticised the transfer of young Collectors, stating that it takes at least six months for a Collector to understand district level issues. Frequent transfers before they can stabilise, he said, undermine morale and affect governance outcomes.

Harish Rao further alleged that officers are being transferred if they fail to comply with the political leadership. He said the government has been granting service extensions to several retired IAS, IPS officers and engineers, despite earlier criticism by Congress leaders of similar practices during the previous BRS government.

Raising concerns over transparency, he said only about 20 percent of government orders are being uploaded online while the remaining 80 percent are kept offline. Despite directions from the High Court to make GOs public, the government has not complied fully, he alleged.

Harish Rao also accused the government of irregularities in Young India school construction tenders and alleged illegal mining activities linked to son-in-law and associates of the Chief Minister’s family in Neopolis. He claimed that mining operations were being carried out without required permissions and that lease rules were being violated. A BRS team will visit the site to verify the facts, he said.

He added that the opposition has been successful in pressuring the government to respond to several issues and urged the ruling party to treat the BRS criticism as constructive suggestions rather than political attacks.