Anti-bifurcation stir: Vizag district loses Rs 85 cr in stamps and registration

In terms of revenues from registration, the district ranks next only to Hyderabad and Rangareddy districts

Hit by Samaikhyandra agitations, the stamps and registration department in Visakhapatnam district has lost Rs 85 crore revenues in the last 25 days.

In terms of revenues from registration, the district- with 18 sub registrar offices mainly within the limits - ranks next only to Hyderabad and Rangareddy districts.

"To express their solidarity for the Samaikhyandhra movement, the entire stamps and registration department staff went on strike from August 13, bringing the entire activity to a standstill in the district," said R Damodhar Rao, district registrar, Visakhapatnam.

The state government usually earns Rs 3.25-3.50 crore revenues every day for registrations in agricultural lands, plots, flats and selling of different types of stamps in Vizag, but during August revenues fell to a near-zero, he said.

Besides, the strike has affected the earnings of more than 300 stamp vendors and document writers based in Vizag. "In normal days, our daily earnings stand at Rs 1,000-2,000. With the changed scenario, we have not earned even a rupee in the last month," said M Sattar, a city-based document writer.

Construction companies and realty developers in the city are also facing the heat as property buyers are not showing interest in paying the amounts due to the absence of property registration.

"With no fresh inflows, we are in no position to pay the weekly wages to construction labour, leading to a temporary halt in construction works," said DRK Raju, managing director, Aruna Constructions, and added they might consider to postpone payments to material suppliers if the situation continues for a few more weeks.

Bollineni Sridhar, managing director of Suvarnabhoomi Developers said, "Even customers are not willing to book plots by making installments."

Pharma output down 10-15%

Pharma units located in the Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City (JNPC) at Parawada near here have indicated a fall in production due to the ongoing agitations.

“The production from the units during August was down 10-15 per cent as against the production in the same period last year,” said M Nagaraju, chief administrative officer, JNPC Manufacturers Association.

Currently, 42 pharma units  operate in the Pharma City and another 22 units are under construction. The expected production this year is around Rs 2,500 crore. Around 8,000 people are employed directly and indirectly.

“While the overall employee attendance fell 10-15 per cent, they have been arriving late by 2-3 hours every day for the general shift (9 am to 5 pm), and in some cases even beyond this,” said Nagaraju. Hit by transportation woes, the officials have been arranging own buses to ferry employees from far-flung areas to these units.

Besides, the production is also affected due to frequent bandh calls by the contract working staff and the local villagers. Even the pharma units’ owners and employees too have observed a one day bandh to express their solidarity, he added.

As the units receive raw material supplies from Chennai and other distant areas, the agitations are resulting in restricted movement of trucks, therefore leading to delays in arrival.