Hyderabad: As many as 28 persons, most of them farmers, had died of shock and depression in the last nine weeks since Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had announced shifting of Andhra Pradesh’s main capital from Amaravati to Visakhapatnam, claimed the joint action committee (JAC) of different parties and organizations fighting against the government’s decision.
Of the 28 died, two committed suicide while remaining suffered cardiac arrest under acute mental tensions.
As per the JAC’s information, as many as 19 of the dead were farmers who had given their agricultural land for the Amaravati city project while the other nine were farm labourers who depended on the construction works in the scrapped capital city region.
All these deaths had occurred in 29 villages that fall under the limits of the capital region development authority which is now abolished by the YSR Congress government.
As per the data of the Joint Action Committee, the total numberof deaths are 44, but the names of those who were already under acute medical condition had been eliminated. These 28 dead were otherwise healthy two months ago.
The Joint Action Committee has explained the ground situation to a team of media persons and social scientists from Hyderabad and other areas this week. One of the major reasons is the crashing of the hopes of these land holders who had given their agricultural holdings for the capital city and raised loans from banks subsequently, while the landless persons had pinned their hopes on constructions works in this area.
Age group wise, 13 of the 28 were from the above 60 years category, while seven are in between 50 and 50 years, six in 50 and 40 years, one in 40 and 30, one in 30 and 20 years age group.
In all, six women are among the dead. “This is the first time that such a large number of persons had died in such a short time in this area,” said Aluru Koteswara Rao, a farmer and a JAC activist.
For the last two months, these villagers are busy with one or the other protest programs and haven’t even celebrated festivals like Sankranti and Maha Shiva Rathri, Rao explained. Though several opposition parties like TDP, BJP, Jana Sena, Congress and the Left parties have lent their support to their struggle, the villagers are leading the stir on their own, he said.
The people of these villagers are not convinced with the government argument that shifting of the executive capital wouldn’t affect the future of Amaravati and that the continuation of the Assembly here would ensure the area’s progress. “What’s the use of having just the Assembly here when Secretariat and High Court are shifted?” asked the JAC functionaries. They warned against more deaths in future.
However, the ruling YSR Congress MLAs are not ready to buy the spate of deaths in this area theory. YSR Congress MLA and party spokesman Ambati Rambabu, while talking in the Assembly, lashed out at the JAC for projecting every death in these villages as that of forced death due to the capital shifting. “There is a conspiracy of TDP behind this false propaganda,” he said.