Farmers who had offered their 33,000 acres of lands for building the capital city of Amaravati have called for an agitation for retaining it at the same place and formed a joint action committee (JAC) of political parties in Andhra Pradesh. Opposition TDP and Jana Sena have hinted at joining the JAC while efforts are on to rope in BJP too.
Farmers of around 23 villages abutting the limits of Amaravati have been on warpath for the last three weeks since Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had announced in the assembly that the State might have three capitals and that an executive capital can be set up at port city of Visakhapatnam. The farmers are insisting that the status of Amaravati should not be diluted at any cost.
These farmers, around 23,000, had given their fertile agricultural fields for Amaravati under a land pooling scheme (LPS) designed by the previous Chandrababu Naidu government five years ago. While most of them had offered their lands voluntarily, the government forced a section of them to give up theirs through the land acquisition laws.
Under the LPS, these farmers would get parcels of residential and commercial plots along with a fixed annuity for the next 15 to 20 years, based on their land size. The Jagan government which came to power last May had paid an installment of the annuity, but hasn’t taken any measures to develop the residential or commercial plots at Amaravati as it stalled all capital city works.
Two major panels, one led by former IAS officer G.N. Rao and another one by Boston Consulting Group have recommended shifting of the capital to Visakhapatnam while distributing the state level institutions among Amaravati and Kurnool. The government is expected to announce its final decision after a special session of the assembly later this month.
To mount pressure on the government, the farmers had formed this JAC and called for continuous stir throughout this month including festival season of Sankranti, 13, 14 and 15 January. The farmers have announced on January 4, Saturday that they would not celebrate the festival instead burn the copies of the reports of the panels which suggested shifting of capital to Visakhapatnam.
The government had deployed heavy police in these villages and imposed prohibitory orders turning the entire area into tense zone. The ruling party leaders had alleged that the opposition TDP was instigating the farmers to disturb the law and order in the State. “When the government is in the process of taking a decision which is beneficial to all, why this stir?” asked Minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy.
However, former CM Chandrababu Naidu lashed out at the reports of the two committees and termed as baseless. “Who are they (committees) to reject Amaravati after five years the city was declared the capital of AP? The reports are nothing but texts dictated by the ruling party and the CM office. We will never allow shifting of capital from Amaravati,” said Naidu at Amaravati on Saturday evening.
Jana Sena leader Pawan Kalyan too voiced similar views and declared that he would join the agitation to keep the capital at Amaravati.BJP is yet to indicated whether it would work with TDP, but former union minister and now BJP MP Sujana Chowdary said that the Centre would not allow shifting of the capital from Amaravati to Visakhapatnam.