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Private enterprise in Andhra’s coastal and Rayalaseema regions have so far remained largely unaffected by the ongoing agitation against the state’s bifurcation. However, the decision of employees of the state power utilities to join the stir from Thursday might substantially change this.
However, normal life has been severely hit by the strike of the state road transport corporation (APSRTC) staff. The drivers and conductors joined the stir early last month.
"Only three per cent of a fleet of 12,500 buses of the corporation in the coastal and Rayalaseema regions are currently operating, that too in places like Nellore and the temple town of Tirupati," said a spokesperson of APSRTC. The corporation is estimated to have incurred a revenue loss of Rs 480 crore during the strike period.
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Thankfully, the agitators have not come in the way of the plying of private buses across the regions. According to government authorities, there are about 6,200 private carriages on routes connecting these with all the important cities, including Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore, and across towns within the region. They are also charging more for plying, given the strike.
Industrial units in remoter districts of the coastal Andhra region have been facing issues like personnel problems due to the APSRTC strike, though there are almost no instances of forced closure by the agitators. "We are facing manpower problems at our plant in Vizianagaram district as employees are not able to attend regularly due to the RTC strike and road blockades," said a senior official of Hyderabad-based SMS Pharma.
The administration at lower levels has come to a standstill in several places. A majority of the 300,000 state government employees in the 13 coastal and Rayalaseema districts are on the agitation path. A file pertaining to the clearance of fresh ethanol quota for use in bulk drug manufacturing at SMS Pharma's Vizianagaram facility has been with the general manager of the District Industries Centre for the past couple of months. Further delay will affect production.
Citizen services provided in government offices are also affected in most of these places, said a senior official in the state secretariat.
In the coastal town of Rajahmundry, operations at installations of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and other companies have been going smoothly, as also local private schools and business establishments. "Agitators staged protest demonstrations in front of our offices a couple of times but that was for a few hours," said an ONGC official. However, ONGC staff faced occasional road blockades when travelling in nearby areas, he said.
There has also been no adverse impact on government finances so far, except in the case of stamp and registration revenue, as there was a marked decrease in land transactions in both in Telangana and coastal Andhra. "In the short term, there will not be much of an impact. However, we cannot rule out the adverse effects of these agitations on the economy in the long term," said P V Ramesh, principal secretary of the state finance department.
There was just a fractional dip in commercial tax collection in August, the single biggest source of state revenue. Whereas, revenues from liquor sales have gone up during the period. "As far as the dip in stamps and registrations is concerned, we do not consider it a a loss of revenue because people have only deferred their decision in the light of the current uncertainty," Ramesh told Business Standard.
Sales tax revenue might not closely reflect the realities on the ground, as businesses with annual turnover of over Rs 40 lakh have to pay the tax electronically.
However, a senior industry department official said there was no fresh activity, as investors were also waiting for the present uncertainty to get over. "Even if some big company approaches the government, it is now difficult to arrange an appointment with the chief minister. Also, there are chances of public representatives accusing the government of favouring one region over the other even if a company makes a decision on location of investment purely on strategic considerations," the official said.
BIOGRAPHY OF AN AGITATION
July 30: UPA partners give in-principle support to the demand for creation of a separate Telangana state. On the same evening, the Congress Working Committee adopts a resolution in favour of creation of separate state for Telangana with Hyderabad as an integral part of it
August 2: TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, in a meeting, says no options would be given to government employees from Seemandhra after bifurcation. They would have to work with the Andhra government
Aug 7: Congress announces it would form a committee headed by Defence Minister A K Antony to address the apprehensions of the people and employees on Hyderabad and other issues, as protests grow in Seemandhra
August 8: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy holds a press meet and questions the CWC decision saying that the bifurcation would create bigger problems instead of solving the existing ones. This emboldens the anti-bifurcation forces
August 12: Government staff from Seemandhra launches an indefinite stir
August 23: 12 MPs belong to Congress and TDP suspended from Parliament as they protest bifurcation by blocking proceedings
September 7: Seemandhra government employees hold anti-bifurcation rally with the support of the state government
