Farmers oppose Jagan’s three capitals idea, call for bandh

A.P. CM’s proposal is detrimental to their interests, they say

One too many: Residents protesting against the A.P. Chief Ministers’ plan to develop three capitals in the State.

Farmers in the Capital region have called for a bandh on December 19 as part of their protest against Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s idea of having three capital cities — Amaravati, Visakhapatnam and Kurnool.

They took to the streets in the morning at Uddandarayunipalem, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation for Amaravati, and some other villages demanding that the Chief Minister shelve his plans to shift the Capital city in the name of decentralisation.

Police were deployed in strength in the villages as farmers and activists of civil society organisations squatted on the road, and some of them began a relay hunger strike.

The farmers said they had given their land under the pooling scheme keeping in view the larger interests of the State, and Mr. Reddy’s concept was detrimental to their interests and that of the future generations.

‘Contradictory remarks’

The farmers said they welcomed decentralisation of development but not administration and that the Ministers’ contradictory statements had opened a can of worms.

Mr. Reddy stoked the fire by springing a surprise in the Assembly on the last day of the winter session on December 17, they said.

Mr. Reddy said he favoured development of three capitals in a marked departure from former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s plans to develop 26 villages in the Vijayawada-Guntur region as one mega capital city.

Mr. Reddy’s statement comes a few days before the submission of the report of the expert committee chaired by former IAS officer G.N. Rao, which was constituted by the government to suggest development strategies, including for Amaravati.