Tension prevailed in Amaravati on Saturday as the farmers planned for a procession to the Ambedkar memorial at Sakhamuru village. The memorial was proposed by the TDP government as part of the Amaravati capital city plan.
However, the memorial was discarded by the successive YSR Congress government, which later took up a similar project on Swaraj Maidan grounds in Vijayawada.
The farmers, who have been opposing development of layouts in Amaravati as part of the R 5 (Residential) zone. The YSR Congress government introduced this R5 zone to provide house sites for the people of Guntur and NTR districts.
The farmers have lost the case in high court and have approached the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, with the government starting development works in the layouts, the farmers are opposing the works. They have been holding protests against the government taking up works in the layouts to be given to the poor, even as the case is pending before the Supreme Court.
The police stopped the farmers from proceeding to the Ambedkar Memorial from Thullur camp. As the police stopped them, some farmers escaped from the police and reached Ambedkar Memorial at Sakhamuru village.
As there was tension in the village, the police allowed some leaders to go to Sakhamuru ending the trouble.
Meanwhile, the police arrested advocate and Jai Bheem Party president Jada Sravan Kumar in Vijayawada, who was scheduled to participate in the farmers protest. The other day, the police arrested Amaravati forum leader Srinivasa Rao, who planned an indefinite hunger strike in support of the Amaravati farmers.