There may be a lot of changes required at the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC), but the state Government’s time, energy and funds are right now focused on one thing: giving its chain of ‘Punnami’ hotels a new name.The chain was named ‘Punnami’, or ‘full moon night’, during the tenure of the Telugu Desam Party’s Chandrababu Naidu. It is generally believed that the chain was named after the former Chief Minister, as ‘Chandra’ also means the moon.Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy wants that changed to ‘Haritha’, meaning greenery. Officials in the APTDC deny the renaming has a political angle, and insist that it is prompted by the fact that most of the ‘Punnami’ hotels are located in forest areas.Said State Minister for Tourism A Ramnarayan Reddy: “The name of the chain is being changed because our focus is now ‘Green Andhra Pradesh’. Most of these hotels are either in forest areas or on the highway.”Officials estimate that the exercise will eventually cost about Rs 1 crore, given that it will also mean changing signages, advertising, stationery and other expenses.TDP leader and former minister K Vidyakar Rao said: “We (TDP) take strong objection to the way the Congress is changing names in the state. When we come back to power, we will change it back. The Government is adding the names of Rajiv and Indira Gandhi to everything. If they were Telugu names, we wouldn’t mind.”There are 27 Punnami Hotels in the state, with over 860 rooms. Most Andhra districts have them, with the most popular being in places like Srisailam, Horsely Hills, Araku Valley, Vizag, Nagarjunasagar, as well as districts like Warangal, Kurnool, Vijayawada and Bhadrachalam.The name change has already begun, with the first hotel to be rechristened being at Tank Bund in Hyderabad. The plan is to rename the hotels gradually, and not at one go.
