The Jagan Mohan Reddy government's firm decision to clear the jungle in villages falling under the newly-created R-5 zone in Amaravati to allot plots for the poor is snowballing into a major controversy.
On Monday, thousands of farmers from villages falling under the R-5 zone took out a huge rally from Krishnayapalem village.
The rally went through Mandadam, Thullur, Ainavole, and Kuragallu and reached Nidamarru village, where they addressed a public meeting.
Several leaders of the Amaravati Joint Action Committee took part in the rally along with farmers and raised slogans in support of Amaravati capital.
A tense situation prevailed in Amaravati's capital region villages as the government started levelling the R-5 zone land for the distribution of house sites to the poor.
While Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) officials started clearing bushes with proclainers, a large number of villagers staged protests and thwarted their attempts.
A couple of days ago, farmers from Kuragallu tried to prevent the officials from levelling the land and were subsequently arrested by the police and shifted to Mangalagiri police station.
A large number of villagers then staged a protest at the Mangalagiri police station against the arrest of the farmers. Later, the police released the farmers.
The agitating farmers stated that the government had failed to develop the plots allotted to farmers so far and has not paid the lease amount to farmers who surrendered their lands to the government under land pooling.
They also expressed their objection to the levelling of the land when the R-5 zone issue was still pending in court.
