The people of Telangana will see themselves as victors after five-decade-long fight, but many of their neighbours will be depressed.
The people of Telangana will see themselves as victors after five-decade-long fight, but many of their neighbours will be depressed.
The reason is the action-packed laying-off of Hyderabad from Andhra Pradesh. The capital is the jewel in the crown, an information technology centre and a city that hosts the lively Telugu film industry.
Political leaders, entrepreneurs and realtors from Andhra Pradesh’s two other regions, and many from film fraternity, are also among those who are saddened. They have a lot at risk in and around Hyderabad, and they panic that the Telangana government will ask for taking their properties over or revoke the acquisitions. Many of the properties in Hyderabad are suspected to have been acquired suspiciously, or at throwaway prices because of government bounty.
The list of those who hold prime possessions and have invested immensely in Hyderabad includes Congress, TDP and YSR Congress lawmakers and legislators, film celebrities, bankers, hoteliers, doctors and builders.
TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu and his family own the Heritage Foods chain with several outlets and properties in Hyderabad. Even Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy holds properties across the city and its fringes, including buildings and printing presses and studios of the Sakshi Telugu newspaper and channel. The Congress lawmaker from Vijayawada, Lagadapati Rajagopal, possesses vast plots in Hyderabad and on its outskirts, including in Lanco Hills where he has a high-end housing project. He said lately he stands to lose a lot if Telangana is created.
The proprietors of Narayana Group and Chaitanya Group have spent heavily in infrastructure and educational plans across Hyderabad and other Telangana districts.
Film star turned politician, K. Chiranjeevi and his family possess a number of lands in and around Banjara Hills, one of the posh areas of Hyderabad. Many other stars have properties and studios in Hyderabad.
The film industry is conquered by actors and directors from Coastal Andhra. The Telugu film industry makes the maximum number of films in a regional language by any state.
From Coastal Andhra come the entrepreneurs, small businessmen, real estate agents, engineers and farmers, supported by the income from agriculture, and from Rayalaseema come the mining tycoons. They have invested hugely in the IT infrastructure.
Telangana demonstrations have repetitively attacked properties owned by non-Telangana people. Their leaders may refute any danger to non-Telangana people and their properties, but the circumstances may turn out to be frightening.
Of the 4 lakh people employed in IT sector in Hyderabad, over 60 percent are from non-Telangana regions. When the protest started, many techies chose to work in places closer to their home districts instead of Hyderabad. The worry for the IT industry is whether the same good work and investment atmosphere will carry on in Hyderabad.
The President of Telangana Rashtra Samithi, K. Chandrasekhara Rao has vowed that in the new state, Telangana’s people will have all the opportunities and chances that had so far been available to others.
