Parties will be made to pay for damage to public property

Stung by the manner in which the agitators were targeting APSRTC buses and other public property, the state government has decided to
issue an ordinance to recover the damages from respective political parties. The ordinance is likely to be issued next week according to highly placed sources.

In fact this proposal was cleared by the state cabinet and was to be introduced as a Bill in the last session of the state assembly. It could not be done as the assembly was adjourned sine die in the wake of the T agitation that had rocked the state. The damages to the AP State Road Transport Corporation alone during the Telangana agitation was Rs 240 crore.

The government also proposes to bring in another ordinance to increase the life tax on motor vehicles from existing nine per cent to 12 per cent on certain categories of vehicles and from 12 percent to 14 on other categories like heavy duty vehicles including poclainers.