CM urges Capital landlords not to raise rents

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has appealed to landlords in Guntur, Amaravati and Vijayawada not to increase house rents for the hundreds of AP employees who will be living in these parts following the functioning of the State Secretariat at Velagapudi from June next. Stating that it was painful to him that the rents in these areas were on the rise, the Chief Minister said on Wednesday after laying the foundation stone for the Secretariat at Velagapudi that a rise in the rents would hit at the root of the administration. Hoping that the landlords of these areas would co-operate with the new administration, he hoped the people in general in these parts would be friendly to the AP staff coming from Hyderabad. One way or the other, the rise in rents in these parts was the very issue that eventually fuelled the Telangana agitation and led to the separation of the combined AP. Prof Jaishankar, the ideologue for Telangana, had carried the memories of the raised rents in Vijayawada as a boy to reach the conclusion that the twain shall never meet. There should, therefore, be a societal understanding against making money from raised rents of unfortunate people. The Vysya community during the Razakar movement in Hyderabad had migrated to Vijayawada and other areas. Likewise the AP staff will be moving to their region in the changed circumstances in Hyderabad.