Farmers of Amaravati capital region of Andhra Pradesh on Monday moved the state high court seeking permission to take up padayatra to Arasavilli in Srikakulam district to highlight their demand for retention of capital city at Amaravati.
The farmers have announced their padayatra from the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams temple at Venkatapalem in Amaravati to Sri Suryanarayana Swamy temple at Arasavilli, starting from September 12, coinciding with the completion of their 1,000 days of agitation.
They are planning to cover a distance of nearly 600 km in a span of 60 days and end it on November 17, the day on which Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy announced formation of three capitals in the state assembly three years ago.
The farmers have first sought the permission from the police authorities stating that only a few hundred farmers would take out the padayatra and it would be completely peaceful.
They said their objective was only to create awareness among the other parts of the state about the need to develop Amaravati as the capital city. They reminded that their earlier padayatra to Tirupati was completely peaceful without any law and order issues.
However, expectedly, the state police have not given permission to the padayatra. Since it will pass through Visakhapatnam, which has been proposed as the executive capital of the state, it might lead to a law and order problem.
As a result, the farmers have approached the high court, seeking a direction to the state government and the police to give permission to the yatra.
“We have taken up the yatra only to highlight our legitimate demand, but not to create a regional divide,” Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi secretary Tirupati Rao said.
The petition is expected to come up for hearing in a day or two. Noted lawyer Unnava Muralidhar, who has been arguing the capital case in the high court, will argue this case of the farmers also.
