The ongoing Telangana agitation, the violent protests and the two-day bandh which turned Hyderabad into a ghost town, not only disrupted peace, but also left the city poorer by Rs 250 crore! losses apart, the state also suffers a dented image as it’s no longer considered safe for tourists. And the business community in the city, which limped back to work on Tuesday, fears that the worse is yet to come.
Suraj Agarwal, member and Ex-President, Federation of AP Chamber of Commerce and Industry, says, “Construction work around the city came to a halt, production stopped in all the industries around the city, retail stores were forced to remain shut and there were no visitors at malls. The overall loss due to the bandh and violence in the last week is more than Rs 250 crore.
The irony is that the government seems least bothered about taking action.”
The tourism sector which hoped to do brisk business this holiday season has also taken a beating. From private players like hotels to the tourism authorities and the RTC, everyone is equally affected.
“We had a reservation of 35 rooms for three nights for guests from Pune. When they learnt of the volatile situation, they called off the trip. This single cancellation cost us Rs 5.2 lakh. The series of incidents in the city in the past one week has dented Hyderabad’s image. This is the tourist season and we had been counting on it,” says Pradeep Dutt, general manager of a hotel in Somajiguda.
Hoteliers who consider the first week of each month as the most profitable, say, they are the worst affected. “About 25 per cent of the month’s business is done in the first week of the month. The loss was huge as 90 per cent of the hotels in the city were forced to shut down,” says Jagadish Rao, secretary, AP Hotel Owner’s Association.
Theatres in the region claim they’ve lost about Rs 3 crore so far. “There are 500 theatres in the Telangana region, most of which were forced to close down,” says Vijandar Reddy, President of Hyderabad Film Chamber of Commerce, who fears the blow will be major if the unrest continues.
With 85 buses damaged and services disrupted, APSRTC incurred heavy losses too. “We lost 8 lakh kms operations per day. The loss in the districts is equally bad. APSRTC suffered a total loss of Rs 20 crore,” says Narayana Swamy, executive director, APSRTC, GHMC and RR district.
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