01-18-2009, 10:24 PM
Flattery, please; who wants friends?
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Andhra Pradesh is rife with thuggery. There is one business group which claims a Rs 1,800-crore turnover in steel. It has only one small problem. It has no steel plant. A second company has got contracts for irrigation projects from the Andhra Government worth Rs 15,000 crore, but has a working capital of only Rs 55 crore. Do the math, and you know that there are ghost projects hovering all over the State. Another company in the same racket (co-owned by a ruling politicianâs son) has Rs 12,000 crore worth of projects on its order books and a working capital limit of only Rs 50 crore from a nationalised bank.
You might ask, legitimately, why newspapers do not expose this odious stink. The price of independence is high. When the chairman of the Eenadu group, Mr Ramoji Rao, refused to be Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Rajasekhar Reddyâs lackey, the State Government went after his businesses with vicious ferocity. Every instrument of coercion in the State Government, the Union Finance Ministry, the Registrar of companies, the Income Tax Department and even the Reserve Bank of India, was used against Mr Ramoji Raoâs Margadarsi Financiers. When this did not break Mr Rao, bulldozers were sent to demolish permanent structures in his Ramoji Film City on the excuse that they were built on land assigned to weaker sections. Quite clever, that: Not only does Mr Rajasekhar Reddy bludgeon the media, but he tries and milks it for votes as well!
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Andhra Pradesh is rife with thuggery. There is one business group which claims a Rs 1,800-crore turnover in steel. It has only one small problem. It has no steel plant. A second company has got contracts for irrigation projects from the Andhra Government worth Rs 15,000 crore, but has a working capital of only Rs 55 crore. Do the math, and you know that there are ghost projects hovering all over the State. Another company in the same racket (co-owned by a ruling politicianâs son) has Rs 12,000 crore worth of projects on its order books and a working capital limit of only Rs 50 crore from a nationalised bank.
You might ask, legitimately, why newspapers do not expose this odious stink. The price of independence is high. When the chairman of the Eenadu group, Mr Ramoji Rao, refused to be Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Rajasekhar Reddyâs lackey, the State Government went after his businesses with vicious ferocity. Every instrument of coercion in the State Government, the Union Finance Ministry, the Registrar of companies, the Income Tax Department and even the Reserve Bank of India, was used against Mr Ramoji Raoâs Margadarsi Financiers. When this did not break Mr Rao, bulldozers were sent to demolish permanent structures in his Ramoji Film City on the excuse that they were built on land assigned to weaker sections. Quite clever, that: Not only does Mr Rajasekhar Reddy bludgeon the media, but he tries and milks it for votes as well!
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