By B. Vinod Kumar,
Former Member of Parliament
The bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh State into Telangana and Seemandhra is now inevitable after its endorsement by UPA, Congress Party and BJP at national level. While the legal and administrative process is being worked out by Govt. of India, it is therefore necessary for youth of Seemaandhra to understand the immense potential in their region and not be misled by their selfish leaders based at Hyderabad who are selling a single-point agenda of Hyderabad-centric development. In this context, I would like to make the following suggestions to the people of Seemaandhra for the development of their region.
1) Creation of More Districts
Seemaandhra region with 13 districts will have area of 1, 65,450 sq kms with population of approximately of 5 crores (2011 Census). It will still be larger in area than other states like Tamil Nadu (1, 30,058 sq kms), Odisha (1, 55,820 sq. kms), Bihar (94, 163 sq kms) West Bengal (88,752 sq. kms) and Chattisgarh (1, 35,191 sq kms). The average population density would be 302 persons per sq km, which is less than national average 374 persons per sq. km.
The average district area in existing Andhra Pradesh state is at 11,958 sq. kms and average district area of proposed Seemaandhra state is at 12,341 sq kms, both of which are larger than the national average size of district at 5,018 sq. kms. Average number of households serviced by each District in the country is 3,76, 000 whereas average number of households serviced by each District in the proposed Seemandhra is 11,93, 500. Similarly, average population per district in the country is around 18.50 lakhs whereas average population per district in present Andhra Pradesh is around 36.78 lakhs and the proposed proposed Seemandhra state is even higher at 38 lakhs. Smaller states like Tamil Nadu has 32 districts, Odisha- 30 districts, West Bengal – 19 districts, Bihar-38 districts, and Chattisgarh-27 districts. Therefore, In this context, Seemaandhra youth should understand the definite need for creation of more districts in the newly created Seemandhra state. 32 districts out of the present 13 can be created in the new Seemaandhra State to make it on par with national average. Creation of additional districts would bring the administration closer to the people and lead to development of more big towns and of course provide more employment opportunities.
2) Exploiting the potential of long Coastline.
Newly created Seemaandhra state would have second longest coastline of 972 km (604 miles) among all the states of India next to Gujarat with 1600 Kms of coastline. Having such a long coastline is the most natural advantage to Seemaandhra State During last five hundred years, modern civilization developed around the big cities along coastlines all over the world. Most of the developed regions of the World have natural advantage of coast. Emergence of big cities like New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Rotterdam, London, St. Petersburg, Lisbon, Cairo, Istanbul, Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, Shanghai, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai are the modern examples of their proximity to sea coast leading to development of their hinterland.
The entire hinterland of proposed State would be maximum 200 kms away from sea coast except two districts of Kurnool and Ananthapur. Such a proximity to long coastline is most natural advantage to the proposed State which is not enjoyed by any other coastal state in the country. Gujarat has established 41 ports, one major port, 11 intermediate ports and 29 minor ports along its coastline. They established many port-based power plants with imported coal as raw-material from Indonesia and Australia. When compared to Gujarat, Coastal Andhra has at present around 6 ports only. There is huge potential to set up more ports in Coastal Andhra. They can also set up many port-based Power Plants. Port-based region offers immense potential growth with huge employment opportunities
The youth of Seemaandhra may note this natural advantage of coastline and huge employment potential it offers to their new State. They should understand that history is giving them the greatest opportunity of exploring the natural potential of long coastline coupled with delta area of two major rivers of the country i.e Krishna and Godavari. They should not miss this golden opportunity of coastal line growth potential for the sake of land-locked joint capital of Hyderabad with administrative jurisdiction of 200 sq. kms. The people of Seemaandhra State may note that adjacent Rangareddy district with 7,500 sq kms would be part of Telengana State and will not be shared with Seemaandhra State.
3) Creation of more Urban Agglomerations and areas.
Apart from the large size of the Districts, the Urban Population ratio to total population in present AP is at 33% when compared to national average of 32%. But it is very low vis-à-vis other developed states like Maharashtra(46%), Gujarat (43%), Karnataka(39%), Tamil Nadu(49%), Punjab(38%) and Kerala(48%) as per Census 2011. Similarly, the present state is having less number of towns than other small and big states. The number of Towns in AP at 253 compare poorly with those of other States like, Tamil Nadu( 1097), Gujarat (350), Karnataka (347), Kerala (520), Uttar Pradesh(915) and West Bengal(909). Because of predominant focus on Hyderabad since beginning, no importance was given to growth of towns which led to lower urbanization levels when compared to other states. It is a well-known fact that higher urbanization levels lead to higher growth in Services Sector and in state’s economy. To achieve the urbanization levels of 50% in a decade, the proposed Seemandra state should aim at the following :
• more Urban Agglomerations around Vizag, Kakinada, Rajamundry, Eluru, Vijaywada, Mahcilipatnam, Guntur, Ongole, Nellore, Tirupati, Kadapa,Ananthapur and Kurnool.
• 19 more districts which would lead to rapid urbanization.
4) Other Infrastructure.
The youth of Seemaandhra should not fritter away their energies and time on the claim to landlocked Hyderabad city. Instead, they should insist on their leaders to demand and bargain for the support from Centre on the following infrastructure:
1) Two Major Ports at Machilipatnam and Prakasham in Central Govt. Sector
2) Four intermediate ports in Private Sector.
3) Three port-based power plants by NTPC on imported coal.
4) A Central University
5) Indian Institute of Technology(IIT)
6) National Institute of Technology(NIT) in Rayalaseema
7) Indian Institute of Management(IIM)
8) Two All India Institutes of Medical Sciences, one in Coastal Andhra and one in Rayalaseema.
9) Six Lane Coastal Highway project along the coast from Srikakulam to Nellore along the Coastline.
10) New International Airports at Vizag and Tirupati by Airport Authority of India
11) Three Domestic airports at Vijayawada, Ongole and Kurnool by Airport Authority of India.
12) Rs.1000 crore Tourism Package to develop Konaseema on the lines of Kerala.
13) Rs. 2000 crore package to upgrade the State Universities created in each district in recent period.
I tried to make a strong case for faster development of Seemaandhra State without any linkage to the claims to Hyderabad. While Hyderabad City with Hyderabad District would be common capital for the proposed two states, I feel that Seemandhra people can bargain with Centre for more financial assistance on the above projects in their region so that they can provide better employment opportunities to their youth and better governance to their people. My appeal to the youth of Seemaandhra is not to fall prey to their Hyderabad-based politicians who are selling them false dreams on Hyderabad city but instead demand more from Centre for the development of their region.
In this context, however, I, on behalf of Telangana people, assure the full protection & security to people of Seemaandhra who continue to stay in Telangana region and welcome their active contribution to the development of Telangana State.
(The author was a former MP of TRS who represented Hanamkonda constituency twice. He is the Politburo Member of TRS and a part of Think Tank of the Party. The views expressed are personal. Feedback is welcome at vinodkumarboianapalli@yahoo.com )