Agitation for separate Telangana, power cuts affect industries.
2011 will be a year, which the people of Andhra Pradesh, particularly farmers, industrialists, traders, politicians and bureaucrats, would like to forget.
The state, which had been in the forefront of development for over a decade since late 1990s, moved a step backward with prolonged agitation for a separate statehood and continuing power cuts drastically affecting industrial production.
While the ‘Sakala Janula Samme’ (strike by all sections of the people) paralysed administration in the region, the inability of the ruling Congress party to take a stand on the Telangana statehood issue led to uncertainty over the future of AP. This had marred the investment climate as industrialists were at a loss to formulate their future plans.
It's also been one of the worst years for the state on the agricultural front. For the first time, farmers of Konaseema, a region considered as the rice bowl of the state, declared a crop holiday unable to get remunerative price for paddy. Poor monsoons affected crops elsewhere.
The AP high court ordering probes by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the ‘illegal’ assets of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, leader of YSR Congress Party and son of former chief minister, YS Rajasekhara Reddy, and leader of Opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP), N Chandrababu Naidu, throws light on the crony capitalism that is thriving in the state.
On the other hand, the arrest of a senior IAS officer, Y Sri Lakshmi, and former director of mines, D Rajagopal, in the Obulapuram iron ore mining case seemed to have shaken the state's bureaucracy.
The daily reports on the return of group politics in the Congress party indicate chief minister, N Kiran Kumar Reddy, can't take his position for granted even though his government had survived the no-confidence motion moved by the TDP in December.
According to the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Fapcci), industry is losing Rs 800 crore every day due to power cut and nearly Rs 2,400 crore every week. Thus, the industry is estimated to have lost nearly Rs 20,000 crore worth production in the last two months of 2011.
Stating that frequent bandhs were choking investments in the state capital, industrialists expressed apprehensions that Hyderabad, which accounts for 60 per cent of the industrial activity in the state, would go the Kolkata way as far as investments were concerned.
Fapcci president VS Raju earlier stated that a day's bandh observed in the state capital would cost the industry about Rs 400 crore. And, there were nearly 20 bandhs in the past one year.
Senior vice president of Fapcci, Devendra Surana, said Hyderabad had lost 20,000 jobs in the manufacturing sector and 40,000 jobs in the services sector due to the ongoing agitation for a separate Telangana state.
Because of the frequent disturbances, he said, companies like, Xerox and Quard Cables that had planned to invest in the state diverted their investments to other states. Even in the services sector, many companies including Intelligroup, Cognizant and Kedia Infotech, have stalled their expansion plans.
Despite this, the state government is confident of signing MoUs worth Rs 3 lakh crore in the Partnership Summit slated to be held in January 2012. It, however, remains to be seen whether the government will be able to achieve this.
The venue of the summit, being organised by the Union Ministry of Commerce, the Confederation of Indian Industry and the state government, was shifted from Hyderabad to Chennai in 2011 due to political disturbances.
Meanwhile, president of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), K Chandrasekhara Rao, announced that he would intensify the separate statehood agitation after the 'Sankranti' festival in January.
Political analysts say with the Congress High Command being focused on the ensuing elections in five state, there is little possibility of the ruling party taking a decision on the Telangana issue in the next three months.
So, is the state headed for another turbulent year?
