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HC orders Andhra to permit Amaravati farmers’ march
The high court wondered how there could be a law and order issue when a group of 600 farmers, out of 35,000 farmers of Amaravati, take out a padayatra when there was no such problem elsewhere in the country for much bigger rallies
The Andhra Pradesh high court on Friday ordered the state government to grant permission to the 61-day long “Maha Padayatra” (great foot march) by the farmers of Amaravati to Srikakulam from September 12 , against the proposed trifurcation of capitals of the state.
Acting on a petition filed by the Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi general secretary, Gadde Tirupati Rao, and president, A Siva Reddy, on Thursday, the state high court directed that the police permit them subject to certain conditions.
The high court said not more than 600 farmers should take part in the padayatra, and they should submit their identity cards to the police before embarking on the padayatra. They would follow the restrictions imposed by the police, the court said.
The judgement comes within hours of state director general police K V Rajendranath Reddy issuing an order denying permission for the padayatra.
The high court asked the organisers to apply for permission for the public meeting to be held at the end of the padayatra and directed the police to examine the application and give permission.
The high court wondered how there could be a law and order issue when a group of 600 farmers, out of 35,000 farmers of Amaravati, take out a padayatra when there was no such problem elsewhere in the country for much bigger rallies.
“Political leaders can take out padayatras from Kanyakumari to Kashmir with thousands of party workers in the name of Bharat Jodo. Thousands of people take up rallies in the national capital of Delhi on various issues. When the police can maintain law and order in such huge rallies, can’t you make security arrangements for the padayatra by a few hundred people?” the court asked.
The Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi has proposed to conduct the “Amaravati to Arasavilli” padayatra starting from September 12 to November 11 through various villages, covering 12 districts -- Guntur, Bapatla, Krishna, Eluru, West Godavari, East Godavari, Ambedkar Konaseema, Kakinada, Anakapalli, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam.
In their representation to the police, the Samithi leaders proposed that around 200 people would take part in the padayatra and if the number increases, then the same will be divided into groups of not more than 200 people in single group.The farmers will also carry the Idol of Lord Venkateswara Swamy on a vehicle.
After midnight on Thursday, the DGP Reddy said the permission could not be granted due to the previous experience of the farmers taking out the rally from Amaravati to Tirumala from November 1, 2021, to December 17, 2021.
The DGP pointed out that the organisers had violated several conditions imposed by the police during the last padayatra. He pointed out that a total of 71 criminal cases were registered, and in addition, they committed 51 violations of the permission order issued by police.
“In two criminal cases, they pleaded guilty and convicted. Two criminal cases are pending trial, and the remaining are in various stages of investigation etc. The nature of offences committed by the participants ranges from the assault on public servants to causing injuries to the public servants while discharging their official duty. wrongful restraint etc,” the DGP said.
Reddy said the issue of trifurcation of capitals of the state is having different competing claims in different areas, and the entourage of the proposed programme is passing through Visakhapatnam district, which was proposed as the executive capital.
“The inputs suggest there is the likelihood of breach of peace and disturbance of tranquillity in the areas through which the padayatra proposed to be undertaken due to the political and emotive nature of the issue,” he said.
Senior YSR Congress party leader and state industries minister Gudivada Amarnath said what the farmers were taking out was not a “padayatra” but an attack on Visakhapatnam, which was being developed as the state executive capital.
“Our government is committed to the formation of three capitals for equal development of all regions. Since we are developing Visakhapatnam as executive capital, the padayatra is aimed at creating a tense situation in the north coastal Andhra, thereby stalling its development,” he said.
