‘Save AP’ rangolis come up in capital region

Vijayawada: While merrymaking marked new year festivities in the city, residents of the 29 villages in the Amaravati capital region painted rangolis with a ‘save Amaravati, save Andhra Pradesh’ to welcome 2020.
Farmers in the capital region skipped new year celebrations as a mark of protest against the three capital cities proposal, and instead opted to express their grievances through rangolis.
A rangoli competition with a ‘save Amaravati, save Andhra Pradesh’ theme was conducted at BRTS road by Amaravati Pari Rakshana Samithi (APRS) and Helping Hands NGO. Thirty participants from the city made rangolis highlighting the problems of farmers in the region.
“Amaravati doesn’t belong to a single community or a religion. It is the spirit of the public of the 13 districts of Andhra Pradesh. While the idea of decentralisation is appreciable, shifting the capital out of Amaravati is not acceptable. Farmers of this region sacrificed their land for the sake of the capital and have now lost their means of livelihood. I have tried to depict this through my rangoli,” said Yalamanchali Vijayalakshmi, who won a prize in the competition.
Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Congress vice-president and APRS functionary Sunkara Padmasri said they are conducting a series of protests and programmes to explain the plight of farmers in the Amaravati capital region.
“The state government is meting out injustice to the Amaravati region in the name of decentralisation. Proposal for three capitals is baseless and we will continue our agitation till the government withdraws its proposal,” Padmasri said.