AP LOSES OVER Rs 250 CR ON TELANGANA ISSUE

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.  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. 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 Telangana. The state-run Andhra Pradesh Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) bore the brunt of the strife with 35 buses burnt and another 214 damaged. Fifty private buses were also damaged and seven were set on fire by Telangana protesters. According to Transport Minister S Vijayarama Raju, APSRTC suffered a loss of over Rs 110 crore since November 29. 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.