Hyderabad: As Andhra Pradesh boils over the
Telangana issue, public and private properties worth over Rs
250 crore were destroyed by protesters in all the three
regions of the state so far, government sources said.
Adding the loss caused to businesses because of the
seemingly unending spate of shutdowns in Telangana, the figure
could be a few hundred crores of rupees more.
Of the total loss to properties, about 80 per cent was
caused in Telangana region alone where people demanding a
separate state have been more "violent," the sources said.
As many as 52 public and 28 private properties were burnt
while 62 public and 114 private properties were damaged in the
violence that broke out in Telangana region from November 29
to December 9, after TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao began his
indefinite fast demanding separate statehood for Telanagana.
The agitations supporting a united state recorded 37
public properties and 11 private properties being burnt and 46
public and 47 private properties damaged between December 10
and 23, statistics compiled by the police reveal.
The state-run Andhra Pradesh Road Transport Corporation
(APSRTC) bore the brunt of the strife with 35 buses being
burnt and another to 214 damaged. 50 private buses were also
damaged and seven were set on fire by Telangana protesters.
Pro-Telangana groups went on a rampage and damaged as
many as 268 buses in the state capital and other districts of
Telangana region on a single day following the Centre`s
announcement on the statehood issue on December 23.
Besides, over 50 public and over 150 private properties
were also badly burnt or damaged in the second round of
"protests" in Telangana so far.
According to Transport Minister S Vijayarama Raju, APSRTC
suffered a loss of over Rs 110 crore since November 29.
"These are only bare estimates as the destructions are
still continuing in Telangana region," a top ranking
bureaucrat said.
The protesters also targeted railway properties causing a
loss of several crores of rupees due to burning of four
railway stations and other damages at various places in all
the three regions of Andhra Pradesh.
The protesters damaged railway signalling panels and
equipments besides burning two bogies and pelting stones on
two Express trains.
"Apart from attacks on railway properties in view of
bandhs, rail rokos and demonstrations, railways are also
losing particularly due to non-transportation of goods and
parcel which are lying at different railway stations," a
senior official of the South Central Railway (SCR) told PTI.
The protesters did not spare telephone exchanges, cell
phone towers. They also set fire to optical fibre cables at a
BSNL warehouse in Anantapur causing over Rs 30 lakh loss.
The number of persons who ended their lives demanding
Telangana state was three times higher in the region with 18
persons resorting to the extreme step while six persons
committed suicide in support of unified Andhra Pradesh.
As many as 82 persons tried to end their lives for
Telangana state while 49 attempted suicide in Andhra and
Rayalaseema regions, police sources said.
PTI
