Farmers in the Amravati capital region of Andhra Pradesh, who had been agitating for the last four-and-a-half years against the previous YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government’s decision to form three capitals for the state, withdrew their agitation hours after N Chandrababu Naidu took oath as the state’s new chief minister on Wednesday.

Hyderabad

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.Farmers in the Amravati capital region of Andhra Pradesh, who had been agitating for the last four-and-a-half years against the previous YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government’s decision to form three capitals for the state, withdrew their agitation hours after N Chandrababu Naidu took oath as the state’s new chief minister on Wednesday.

Following a call given by the Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi (Amaravati protection committee) and the Amaravati Joint Action Committee (JAC), the farmers dismantled their tents at various villages like Thullur, Venkatayapalem and Mandadam on Wednesday evening.

“For the last 1,631 days, men and women belonging to all communities and castes had been staging dharnas in these camps seeking development of Amaravati as the sole capital. Now that Naidu has come to power and announced the restoration of Amaravati’s glory, we have decided to call off the agitation,” Amaravati JAC chairman A Siva Reddy said.

On Thursday, thousands of farmers in the capital region assembled on either side of the 100-feet seed access road from Undavalli to Thullur to welcome the chief minister, who travelled from his residence to the state secretariat to assume charge in his chambers. They also covered the entire stretch with flower petals.

It was on December 17, 2019, months after the formation of the YSR Congress Party government, when Jagan Mohan Reddy announced the creation of three capitals for the state – executive capital at Visakhapatnam and judicial capital at Kurnool, while retaining Amaravati as the legislative capital for conducting assembly proceedings.

This resulted in a massive protest from 28,526 farmers who gave away their lands to the extent of 34,385 acres for the construction of the capital city at Amaravati under the Land Pooling System (LPS).

While waging a legal battle in the high court and later in the Supreme Court, the farmers continued with their protest demonstrations, dharnas and padayatras and road blockades, braving lathi charges, cases and imprisonments.

“We were subject to all kinds of harassment. The government put up police camps in villages and tried to coerce us to withdraw our agitation. They did not even spare women, who were actively participating in the agitation and foisted cases against them,” Kata Appa Rao, a farmer from Thullur village, said. “The YSRCP leaders also started a counter dharna camp in support of three capitals. But ultimately, we achieved victory.”

Soon after the YSRCP lost the state assembly elections, the authorities started clearing bushes and trees that had come up after Amravati was abandoned without any development in the last five years. “Now, with Naidu assuming charge, the authorities restored electricity supply all along the Amaravati road, which is now glittering again,” A Siva Reddy said.