The stage is set for Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi‘s Maha Padayatra to begin at Venkatapalem village in Thullur mandal on September 12 in the wake of the grant of permission for it by the police in compliance with the High Court (HC) order.
The farmers will start the Padayatra after offering prayers at the Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple to mount pressure on the government to give up the proposal to have three capitals for the State.
It may be recalled that towards achieving the said objective, the government passed the AP Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions and CRDA Repeal Acts, which had to be withdrawn as a consequence of the HC verdict, wherein it was ruled that the State lacked legislative competence to split the capital.
However, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy made it amply clear that the repeal of the impugned Acts was intended to come up with a comprehensive legislation that would address the legal questions raised by the aggrieved farmers and it should by no means be construed as going back on the concept of three capitals.
Not much progress
Besides, there has not been much progress in the creation of infrastructure in Amaravati despite the HC judgement dated March 3, 2022. By citing financial and other constraints, the government duly appealed to the court to remove the timelines stipulated by it or give at least five years for the development of Amaravati. On the other hand, the farmers filed a contempt petition. All the related cases are pending final adjudication.
Against this backdrop, the farmers resolved to take out the Maha Padayatra from Amaravati to the temple town of Arasavalli in Srikakulam district as neither the government showed any sign of even a rethink nor the Ministers, MLAs and YSR Congress Party leaders stopped their tirade against the farmers, to whom they have been attributing political motives.
