Why the outrage for asking farmers’ promises to be kept?: Vema Reddy

Tadepalli, Jan 9: Mangalagiri coordinator Dontireddy Vema Reddy on Thursday sharply questioned why asking the government to implement promises made to capital-region farmers should provoke such hostility, stating that everything Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy said on Amaravati was factual and that the coalition government was unable to counter it with answers. He said Chandrababu Naidu’s government has already collected about 52,000 acres for the capital and is now attempting to acquire another 50,000 acres, even though, by Chandrababu’s own admission, developing one acre costs aroundRs. 2 crore, which would push the total burden close toRs. 2 lakh crore, every rupee being borrowed money. He said despite eleven years passing, farmers have not received the returnable plots promised to them and are being forced to survive with their lands locked up for 14–15 years, while ministers roam villages seeking more land without fulfilling earlier commitments.
Vemar Reddy stated that thousands of crores are being sunk into flood-prone land, with hundreds of crores spent merely on dewatering, highways breached to drain water, and inflated tenders floated, amounting to pouring public money into pits. He said even the Sivarama Krishnan Committee and the World Bank had earlier indicated Amaravati was unsuitable as a capital, yet the government continues without a sustainable flood-management plan, relying on pumps instead of permanent gravity-based solutions. He asserted that YSRCP is not against a capital but is demanding technical corrections and financial responsibility, and accused the government of branding all suggestions as anti-capital propaganda through yellow media.
He further questioned why lands are being offered to companies in Visakhapatnam at 99 paise per acre while Amaravati is denied IT industries and employment opportunities, forcing industries to move away. Warning the government not to destroy farmers’ livelihoods or push them into despair, he said when a farmer sheds tears, a government writes its own downfall, and demanded immediate allotment of promised plots and a halt to policies that are bankrupting the state and breaking the backbone of Amaravati farmers.