By: Madabhushi Sridhar
(Professor & Coordinator, Center for Media Law & Public Policy, NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad)
After realizing that they cannot own Hyderabad, Seemandhra leaders are raising illegitimate demand for share in revenue saying that they invested heavily in Hyderabad. The statistics reveal that they are just handful of capitalists from Seemandhra and their share in investments in Hyderabad is not more than 25%. According to Srikrishna Committee report, the investment by private persons of AP is Rs 540 Crore, while non-AP men invested Rs 665 cr while the Government’s investment is Rs 442 Cr. See the following table.
Among the announced industries and enterprizes, share of non-AP persons is estimated to be Rs.4448 cr and AP industrialists share is Rs 1925 Cr, which means just 25%. The AP category means predominantly Seemandhra people, it does not mean they alone. With just 25% investments they have audacity to claim that Hyderabad belongs to them ignoring the fact that 75% coming from out of AP. Carving out Telangana with Hyderabad as its capital, will not alter the prospects of these industrialists, whether from AP or not.
Even among the completed projects just 25% belong to investors from AP, while 40% investments are from non-AP people, 20% from Government and 14% from Center. Among projects under implementation, one-third is invested by AP people, another one-third by non-AP investors. While 14% are proposed to be invested by private AP fellows, 61% investments are coming from non-AP enterprizes.
Except those grabbers and cheats who breached law to own huge tracts of land, none need fear. If they are so, they need to fear even if Hyderabad continues to be capital of AP. If grabbers are comfortable in AP but not in Telangana, yes they should not be. They have no legimate right to deprive Telangana people of their capital Hyderabad.
If these industries roll out production, they are expected to pay tax. No economic principles in the world allow Seemandhra Government to seek a share in tax income of Telangana state, based on any rate of investments earlier. It is absurd. If investors of 25% in present and 14% in proposed industries claim a share like that, how do they pay share to non-AP investors? Will they do the same by sharing tax revenue from such enterprizes, with Telangana or other States? Such a demand to share revenue of another state is an illegitamate expectation.
Illegal demand
Seemandhra leaders and ‘intellectuals’ are claiming a share in revenue of Hyderabad; another illegal and atrocious demand. Those who demand share in revenue from Telangana state should also prepare to share the liabilities, loans and losses besides paying compensation for deprivations they inflicted.
Natural justice will not allow sharing of assets alone in any partition without sharing liabilites and losses.
Some gentlemen proposed compensation of loss of Andhras by Telangana for leaving Hyderabad.
Chiranjeevi asked for permanent UT status for Hyderabad. Chandrababu demanded 5 lakh crore package as compensation for leaving Hyderabad, while Yalamanchili Shivaji said that Telangana should bear entire loan of Rs 1.6 lakh crore in lieu of Hyderabad.
Only losses are compensated, generally. Where did they suffer loss and because of whom? Will they compensate the loss sustained by Telangana caused by diverting and exploiting the resources, revenue, river waters, employment in Government offices, for over decades? How do they assess and pay it? The exploited Telangana has right but not Seemandhra, for compensation. Hyderabad is not lost by Seemandhra, as that never belonged to them. It goes to those who could own it, i.e., people of Telangana for which they laid down their lives and fought the biased government and hostile police from Seemandhra. They did not suffer any loss to ask for compensation. Compensation should be reciprocal; the losses suffered by Telangana over 57 years by illegal diversion of river waters, rich minerals, power, coal and deprivation of employment to local Telanganites also should be compensated.
The losses and deprivations of Telangana at the hands of Seemandhra leaders are innumerable, beyond assessment. Some of them are as follows:
a) Nandikonda project was converted into Nagarjuna Sagar, and Krishna water which was supposed to be shared by Seemandhra & Telangana 132 TMC each, was in fact reduced by 70 TMC approximately for decades. The canal to irrigate Telangana region was delayed, deprived or denied. The Mahabubnagar loss was assessed some time back as Rs 80 thousand crore. What could be the loss of Nalgonda and other parts of Telangana? Deliberately defective designs, non-allocation of funds, delays by the Seemandhra engineers with the support of their biased ministers caused huge loss to Telangana.
b) At the time when Telangana was merged with Seemandhra, Telangan was having assured irrigation for 20 lakh acres under minor irrigation tanks and watersheds designed and built 1100 years ago by Kakatiya engineers, (Bachawat award recorded this fact) was not maintained and deliberately no budgetary allocation was made by Seemandhra Governments which led to total destruction of these tank systems. Rejuvenation of these tanks might require atleast one lakh crore Rupees.
c) Girglani Committee documented how 1.5 lakh Government jobs which should go to Telangana were filled and taken over by Seemandhra for decades.
d) In violation of National Power Policy of pit-head power generation stations nearby the coal mines, to avoid coal transport cost and transmission losses, the Seemandhra Governments built Vijayawada and Rayalaseema Thermal Power Stations, leaving Telangana deprived of its coal reserves and suffering deficit of power.
e) Hyderabad held the in rank of cities in country when AP was formed. Original Hyderabad was left as undeveloped Old City using it to provoke communal riots for political reasons, and expanding the Seemandhra Colonies elsewhere. It was a cosmopolitan and multiculture center since centuries which cannot be claimed as developed by unscrupulous political rulers who converted into real estate hub.
f) Who will compensate thousands of people who laid down their lives for these hypocritical rulers? It is a shame.
The Telangana should demand the study of these losses by expert committees and each loss has to be compensated by the Seemandhra Government.