APSFL sacks 410 staff with immediate effect

Vijayawada: Announcing the removal of 410 employees of Andhra Pradesh State FiberNet Limited (APSFL), its chairman G V Reddy said here on Wednesday that they were all irregular appointments.

Addressing the media at the APSFL office, he said that the APSFL would be completely overhauled to set things right. The previous chairman appointed persons in various posts in APSFL with recommendations from the leaders of the erstwhile government.

So far, 410 employees were identified and they were removed immediately. Surprisingly, they were tak-en into APSFL after they applied through WhatsApp messages even without caring for their qualifications. Many of them are cooks in the houses of MLAs and drivers of the cars of members of Parliament but drawing salaries from APSFL. They did not have even appointment letters but they were taken directly into payrolls. The search is on for such irregular appointments and they would also be removed soon.

After taking charge as the chairman of APSFL, he has been taking decisions as per the government rules, he said, and made it clear that he had no animosity towards any employees.

The employees without appointment letters are being removed. The APSFL has been paying salaries of Rs 4 crore every month which might result in the bankruptcy of the organisation. Nobody knows who is working where and such situation should not be tolerated, Reddy added.

He said the previous YSRCP government had raised loans worth Rs 1,200 crore. If the irregular appointees were not removed, the organisation would be shut down. If the removed employees caused any problems, the APSFL would seek recovery of salaries they have been paid so far and would file criminal cases against them, he said.

The chairman said that they would issue legal notices to the persons who made the appointments irregularly. The previous managing director did not care for the rules in the appointments. He would also be served legal notice and, if necessary, the damages would be recovered from him.

Reddy said APSFL which had been earning profits till 2019, had incurred heavy losses during the last five years and it is our responsibility to set things right.

He recalled that the APSFL paid salaries of Rs 40 lakh to the 108 employees during the TDP government between 2014 and 2019. Later, for the 1,360 employees the previous management paid Rs 4 crore salaries. During the TDP rule, the APSFL had 10 lakh connections, which had come down later to five lakh connections.