Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh Fibernet Corporation has decided to remove 410 employees working without appointment letters. APFCL chairman G V Reddy said on Tuesday that the list includes drivers, domestic helps, and personal staff of YSRCP functionaries. He said jobs were given without appointment letters during the YSRCP regime.
“These employees draw salaries from APFCL but perform the personal work of YSRCP functionaries,” he said, adding that the YSRCP govt “recruited” over 1,200 employees even though there was no requirement for staff. “APFCL was profitable during the previous TDP regime but slipped into debts in the last five years. The YSRCP govt raised Rs 1,200 crore and left Rs 900 crore in pending dues, which are yet to be paid. The corporation is on the verge of bankruptcy.”
During the previous TDP regime, the total number of employees in APFCL was only 108, but the number reached 1,360 during the YSRCP regime, Reddy said. “The corporation paid Rs 4 crore in salaries per month, which used to be only Rs 40 lakh during the TDP regime. On the other hand, the number of connections came down from 10 lakh to 5 lakh, a 50% drop, in the last five years. While the expenditure on salaries went up tenfold, the revenues plummeted to half,” he added.
The scrutiny of accounts revealed that many employees were working without any appointment letters. “So far, we have identified 410 employees. Further scrutiny is ongoing, and there could be another 200 such employees. We will remove everyone who illegally joined the corporation. We will also initiate legal action against the erring officials who flouted norms in recruiting these employees,” said Reddy.
