VIJAYAWADA: Farmers’ agitations for continuation of state capital in Amaravati entered Day 19 on Sunday. Demonstrating their dissent against Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s idea of decentralisation of capital by shifting the Secretariat and High Court to Visakhapatnam and Kurnool, respectively, villagers staged sit-ins in Mandadam, Thullur, Velagapudi and other capital villages.
They objected to the recommendations of GN Rao Committee and Boston Consulting Group, which advocated for the relocation of capital to Vizag, and expressed their anger against the government for not considering aspirations of those who gave up their fertile lands for capital construction. Locals of Yerrabalem, Neerukonda and Venkatapalem gathered at their respective village junctions in the morning and protested.
“We gave our fertile lands under land pooling scheme only to be a part of capital Amaravati, and not for plots or money. We sacrificed our lands hoping that our future generations will reap the benefits,” rued Thullur ZPTC member Bezawada Nagendra Babu.
The villagers further lambasted ruling YSRC leaders for calling protestors ‘paid artists’ and demanded that CM Jagan keep his promises and statements on capital Amaravati before his party won the elections.
“He (Jagan), in an interview, had said he had no intention to relocate the capital. He took his word back and cheated thousands of farmers. He should self-introspect,” the protesters said.
Meanwhile, Thullur villagers met BJP leader and Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy in Hyderabad and requested him to oppose the YSRC government’s ‘unilateral’ decision on capital shifting.
“With little options left before us, we are doing everything we can to stop CM Jagan from shifting the capital from Amaravati,” they rued.