Vijayawada: Angry farmers climbed the panchayat office at Velagapudi and painted it black to protest the downsizing of the Amaravati capital. The office had recently been painted in the YSRC colours.
Farmers set fire to tyres and burnt effigies at various places to protest the YSRC government’s decision to shift out different components of the capital to Visakhapatnam and Kurnool. At Mandadam in the capital zone, they symbolically hung the effigies.
Students of Vellore Institute of Technology and SRM University situated in Amaravati expressed their support to the farmers. They said they had joined the universities to get a world-class education and employment in Amaravati but their plans were affected by the government decision.
Elsewhere, pro-Amaravati farmers attempted to blacken panchayat office at Rayapudi but were prevented by police.
The police tried to take the farmers into police custody at both places, but were prevented from doing so. The police later registered six cases against the protestors for violating restrictions and damaging government property.
Pro-Amaravati farmers along with family members including women and children took part for the third consecutive day on Saturday demanding cancellation of the proposal to set up three capitals and continuing with Amaravati as the capital. The women and children aired slogans against YSRC government, the Amaravati expert committee which suggested the three capitals and Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Ms Aluri Lakhshmikan-thamma, a local, said, “we have sacrificed our fertile farms which were the source of our livelihood for the capital and not to the Telugu Desam.”
