A delegation of the Amaravati Parirakshana Samiti (APS) met Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan here on Friday, and urged him to use his good offices in stopping the government from going ahead with its proposal to shift the capital city to Visakhapatnam.
The delegation told the Governor that people of all the 13 districts in the State were in favour of retaining the capital in Amaravati.
In a memorandum to the Governor, APS leaders A. Siva Reddy, Gadde Tirupati Rao and others stated that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s announcement in the Assembly that the State would have three capitals was a jolt to the people, and the recommendations of the expert committees only reflected the CM’s thinking.
‘Panic among farmers’
Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s statement created panic among the farmers who gave their valuable land for the construction of Amaravati, they said.
Protests against the three capitals move were going on for the last 30 days, they said. The police imposed curbs under Sec. 144 of the CrPC and Sec. 30 of the Police Act, notwithstanding the peaceful manner in which the aggrieved public were staging demonstrations for justice, they added.
Several persons had been arrested, and women were allegedly beaten up by the police, they complained.
The administration had been going on smoothly from Amaravati for the last five years, and the Chief Minister’s announcement created a lot of uncertainty, they observed.
