Crowd kept pouring in the 45-day ‘maha padayatra’ by the farmers from Amaravati resumed after the night halt from Duddukuru village in Prakasam district on Wednesday.
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Thousands of people from different walks of life including farmers, farm labourers, women and techies joined the march by 157 farmers who had parted with their land for the capital. The padayatra meandered through the dusty lanes of villages in the Assembly segments of Parchur, Addanki and N.G.Padu for a distance of 14 km.
A large number of people including women from not only from different parts of the State but also from neighbouring States including Telangana followed the ryots for a distance up to 3 km at any given point of time, till N.G. Padu.
They greeted the farmers and offered prayers at the Lord Venkateswara chariot for the farmers. Women broke coconuts and washed the feet of the farmers. The admirers of the Amaravati farmers stood on the either side of the road and showered flowers the ryots who marched for the 10th day even as drummers kept up the tempo.
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Wearing a smile, the farmers led by Amaravati Parirakshana Samiti convenor A. Siva Reddy expressed the hope that they would get justice during the hearing in the case by Andhra Pradesh High Court from November 16.
A group of farmers from Rachapadi village boosted the morale of their Amaravati counterparts. A group of IT professionals hailing from the State and working in an IT firm in Chennai urged Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to retain Amaravati as the single capital and turn it into an IT hub so that youth from the State need not go to other cities for job.
“Land has always been dear to farmers and those who had given it for the capital deserve a fair deal,” said a woman hailing from a farmer’s family while following the Amaravati ryots.
Leaders of opposition parties including Telugu Desam Party MLAs Gottipatti Ravikumar and Dola Bala Veeranjaneya Swamy and former MLA M. Ashok Reddy took part in the walkathon donning green shawls to express solidarity with the Amaravati ryots on the 10th day of the yatra from Thullur.
“The YSR Congress Party is politicising the maha padayatra in which people cutting across party-lines are taking part,” said Mr. Swamy, TDP MLA from Kondepi.
Mr. Ravikumar gave ₹45 lakh contributed by the people from villages in his Assembly constituency of Addanki.