More than 10,000 people, including a large number of women, belonging to 29 villages of Amaravati, the capital region of Andhra Pradesh on Monday took out a “maha padayatra” (marathon foot march) as part of their agitation against the proposed shifting of the administrative capital to Visakhapatnam.
Holding green flags and tricolours, the people, under the banner of Joint Action Committee and Amaravati Parirakshan Samithi (Committee to protect Amaravati), began their marathon walk at Thullur village at around 10.30 am and walked up to Mandadam village near state secretariat covering a total distance of around 10 km.
Raising slogans such as “Jai Amaravati- Jai Jai Amaravati,” and “Save Amaravati, Save Andhra Pradesh,” the padayatra passed through Rayapudi, Modugulanka Palem, Velagapudi and Malkapuram, before culminating at Mandadam.
They also held placards denouncing the state government and also the reports of the experts committee and Boston Consulting Group which recommended three capital cities for Andhra Pradesh, with the seat of power at Visakhapatnam.
“People from all walks of life, including men, women, farmers, government employees, students and traders took part in the marathon walk. They strongly resisted the attempts of the government to shift the capital to Visakhapatnam,” D Srinivasa Rao, a member of the Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi said.
Another JAC member P Sudhakar said the people of Amaravati would continue their struggle till the government comes down on its knees and retains Amaravati as the capital city. “The government had entered into an agreement with farmers stating that it would give developed plots in lieu of the lands we had given under Land Pooling System and that the value of the plots would go up as the capital city comes up at Amaravati. How can it shift the capital in violation of the agreement?” he asked.
{{/usCountry}}Another JAC member P Sudhakar said the people of Amaravati would continue their struggle till the government comes down on its knees and retains Amaravati as the capital city. “The government had entered into an agreement with farmers stating that it would give developed plots in lieu of the lands we had given under Land Pooling System and that the value of the plots would go up as the capital city comes up at Amaravati. How can it shift the capital in violation of the agreement?” he asked.
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, some of the farmers filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Andhra Pradesh high court seeking a direction from the court to the Andhra Pradesh Capital Development Authority (APCRDA) to resume developmental activities Amaravati in accordance to the notified master plan for the capital city.
They also wanted that the APCRDA be directed to develop the plots allotted them under land pooling scheme, besides completing trunk infrastructure expeditiously, and give them physical possession of the developed residential and commercial plots.
They also demanded that the APCRDA pay them compensation at the rate of ₹10 per square yard for residential plot and ₹20 per square yard for commercial plot every month with effect from the expiry of three years from the date of notification of land pooling scheme under the APCRDA Act. The three-year period ended on February 22, 2019.
“The petition is expected to come up for hearing on Tuesday,” senior advocate K Indraneel Babu, who filed the petition on behalf of farmers, said.
The representatives of the JAC also met Union minister of state G Kishan Reddy on Sunday and appealed to him to take up the matter with the Centre so that it could intervene and stop shifting of the capital from Amaravati.
While assuring justice to the farmers, Reddy said that the Andhra Pradesh government should work out a mechanism to see that the farmers were not left in the lurch.