Land owners, who have been resisting moves to acquire their lands for the construction of a new capital for Andhra Pradesh, have now taken their fight to New Delhi. With just five days to go before the latest deadline imposed by State government to acquire 30,000 acres in Thullur mandal through land pooling, land owners of river front villages who have roped in activists and NGOs like National People Union Movement, have now sought the support of Anna Hazare. A group of 30 farmers supported by leaders of various parties on Monday called on anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi and extended their support to the fast undertaken by Anna against changes made to Land Acquisition Act-2013.
The group of farmers under the aegis of ‘Rajadhani Bhoomi Parirakshana Samithi’, called on Anna Hazare and took part in the fast. Leaders of various political parties with the exception of Bharatiya Janata Party and Telugu Desam expressed their solidarity. Korivi Vinay Kumar (Congress), Ramakrishna Raju (AAP convener), B. Lakshmana Reddy (State president of Jana Chaitanya Vedika) and K. Srinath Chowdary (local peasant leader) were present at the meeting.
Farmers of river front villages were also putting up a photo exhibition on the devastating loss of livelihood and ecological systems on the acquisition of horticultural crops grown in 365 days. The photo exhibition would be inaugurated by social rights activist Medha Patkar.
“We will be meeting Anna on Tuesday afternoon and seek his support for our movement against forcible acquisition of our fertile lands. We will also bring to the notice of national media harassment meted to us by the police and revenue personnel,’’ Srinath Chowdary, a local peasant leader told The Hindu from New Delhi on Monday.
