AP capital city killing farmers' peace

Farmers wail after being forced to handover land to build Andhra Pradesh’s new capital

With the State government fixated on acquiring 30,000 acres of land from farmers to build a capital for the State, farmers of Thulluru and Mangalagiri mandals are literally in tears. The joy of having the capital in the region dissipated as soon as it was decided by the government to accrue these lands. The farmers are running from pillar to post looking for help. They are suspicious of the leaders and cautious of losing their lands. Any visitor to the area is frowned upon. The farmers shout, resist and finally cry as they realise that the land on which they have been living on, would be snatched away.

Every day, for all these years, the farmers visit these lands, touch it, feel it and have been making a living out of it besides providing food for the rest. They paint this black soil green and maintain it through the year by growing three crops and an equal number of internal crops. Soon, they would be starving and this reality is bringing tears to their eyes.

Bananas, curry leaves, onions, cotton, jasmine, brinjal, bitter gourd, snake gourd, ridge gourd, bottle gourd, cabbage, spinach, sorrel leaves, coriander leaves, carrot, tomato and many more vegetables have been grown by these farmers and is supplied to the rest of the State. All this is going to be a thing of the past soon and this thought pains them all. Many of them, even in their late 80s and 90s, think for a while to remember whether there was a year in their life that went without a crop cultivated for any reason.

Marreddy Srinivasa Reddy of Nidamarru village of Mangalagiri mandal cultivates jasmine flowers in his land. Today he is worried about losing his occupation which he enjoys more than anything else.

“I love to grow jasmines on my land. The plants are green and flowers are white. They smell good too. How can I handover these lands for buildings? I am not able to digest the very thought of seeing a huge building on this land instead of the beautiful flowers,” he fumes.

Srinivasa is not the only farmer who is expressing his anger and anguish. There are many others who are opposing the idea. Some shout while some cry, unwilling to give away their greenish fields for concrete buildings.