Maoists queer pitch for Sunrise AP

As long as the government refuses to treat Maoist insurgency as a socio-political and economic problem, there may remain a threat to the dream of Chandrababu Naidu to transform north coastal region into a prosperous region with a heavy dose of industrialisation.

Observers point to massive displacement of people due to Polavaram project yielding ground for Maoism in the state. Bauxite ore in eastern ghats is valued at over Rs 1 lakh crore. Maoists are strongly opposing its mining. Godavari districts have also started feeling the heat of left wing extremism. Moreover, following recent encounter, industrialists are chary of investing in a war-like situation in the state

---

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has been dreaming to transform the residuary state into a ‘Sunrise State’ with Visakhapatnam as a hub of industries. But insurgency relentlessly waged by the Maoists which manifested in the form of a spree of encounters in the Agency on the state borders is posing a formidable challenge before the government which is in pursuit of its ambitious dream.

As part of the endeavour, Chandrababu Naidu has been striving hard to create a pro-industry climate in the north coastal Andhra region by hosting a partnership summit and entering memoranda of understanding with investors of global stature worth Rs 7 crore.

The mission intends to let the three backward north coastal districts of Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam and Vizianagaram take a giant leap to prosperity by addressing the problems of unemployment.The government’s pro-industry push has started yielding results with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Visakhapatnam Steel Plant announcing their expansion plans.

Asian Paints has been setting up a plant at Narsipatnam. The Maoist threat, however, has been casting a shadow over the prospects of bauxite mining proposed in the eastern ghats of Visakhapatnam since 2007. According to surveys, bauxite ore available in the particular stretch is estimated at 550 million tonnes valued at Rs 1 lakh crore.

A dedicated freight corridor from Viaskhapatnam to Chennai and petro corridor from Visakhapatnam to Kakinada are also in the pipeline. “If the bauxite mining is allowed in the Visakhapatnam Agency, it will trigger a growth of ancillary units like aluminum plants, helping overcome regional backwardness and fight unemployment.

But investors are unlikely to invest in this war-like situation,” says an industrialist from Visakhapatnam on condition of anonymity.If sunrise is to take place in Andhra Pradesh, ceasefire between the state and the extremists is essential. Late Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy of the Congress took a pro-active initiative for peace talks with the Maoists in 2004-05 with the help of CCC (Committee of Concerned Citizens) headed by retired IAS officer late SR Sankaran.

But the initiative could not be taken to its logical end due to trust deficit from both sides. Since then there has been no such attempt from the successive governments. Neither the Chief Minister nor his cabinet colleagues in the present TDP government broke their silence over the encounter massacre at Ramguda in the AoB forests which left 34 Maoists shot dead.

A statement was subsequently released in the name of CPI (Maoists), issuing threats to Naidu and his family.In the whole process, it is only the police who became the voice of the government, indicating the latter’s mood that the Left wing insurgency is nothing but a mere law order problem.

The state appears to have inherited the Left wing extremist problem from Telangana during the bifurcation along with a slew of other problems. Seven mandals sharing borders with Chhattisgarh and Odisha, mostly populated by the Maoist insurgency, were merged with Andhra Pradesh from Telangana to facilitate the Polavaram project in line with a request from the successor state.

With this, Visakhapatnam, East and West Godavari districts are feeling the heat of Left wing insurgency.The counter insurgency launched by the state with the involvement of Greyhounds, an elite armed force, has forced the Maoists from Telangana districts to lose ground much before the bifurcation and they moved into the AoB forest tracts for asylum.

The contiguous districts in the north coastal Andhra began harbouring Maoist activity post-bifurcation. As a result, AP as a shelter zone or peace zone lost its place in the Maoist jargon. Human Rights Forum leader V S Krishna from Visakhapatnam feels the remedy for the Maoist problem will remain elusive as long as it is not treated as a socio-political and economic problem.

“Polavaram project has displaced 2 lakh tribals. Hydro-electric project on the Balimela reservoir in Chhattisgarh caused similar displacement of deprivation to many adivasis. This in fact is a breeding ground for insurgency which the government needs to address with all the commitment and a human face,” he observed.