On the 1st of March, some farmers of Amaravati staged a jaladeeksha (water strike) and intensified their protest against the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) Government.
The farmers who are protesting against the YSRCP’s proposal of having 3 state capitals entered the 75th day, on the 1st of March.
On the 17th of December 2019, Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh (A.P.,) proposed to have Visakhapatnam, Kurnool and Amaravati as the State capitals.
While Visakhapatnam would be the executive capital, Kurnool would be the judiciary capital and Amaravati would be the legislative capital.
The farmers of 29 villages of Amaravati are against this decision as they gave their lands to the previous Government, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) for Amaravati’s development as the sole capital city.
However, now their sacrifice to give up their lands was in vain, as the current State Government is planning to have two more capitals, Visakhapatnam and Kurnool.
The farmers with placards “Save Amaravati” staged a jaladeeksha at Krishna River and shouted slogans demanding the withdrawal of the proposal.
As of now, the construction work for shifting the State capital has been halted as per the A.P., High Court orders.
The A.P., High Court is hearing several petitions filed against the proposal and asked the YSRCP Government to stop the work until further orders.
Meanwhile the Amaravati Joint Action Committee (JAC) organised a cycle rally from Guntur to Thullur district.
The protest against the A.P., capital proposal is still continued with the participation of women, farmers, men and other citizens of Amaravati.
