Last harvest for farmers in the new capital of Andhra Pradesh
Farmers in several villages are cutting their crops, knowing that this will be their last harvest
Guntur: While Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is planning a joy-filled Sankranti in the capital region, landowners here, attached to their farmlands, are giving a sorrowful adieu to their crops this harvesting season.
Farmers were seen silently cutting and packing their harvest in the farmlands of the capital region villages of Tullur, Venkatapalem, Mandadam etc.
The farming community would bring the harvest home in the first week of January and would celebrate Sankranti for four days.
This Sankranti, however, will be the last harvest festival for the farmers of the capital region as the CRDA will not allow any cultivation after handover of the land for the new capital.
Farmers in several villages are cutting their crops, knowing that this will be their "last harvest".
There are 19 villages in the Tullur mandal on which paddy, chilli, cotton, millets, vegetables and fruits are cultivated on 33,247 acres.
A farmer, Ch. Prasad, said that they were happy with the establishment of the new capital but were sad that they were harvesting their last crop.
N. Venkateswarlu and other farmers of Dondapadu said that they were experiencing sleepless nights thinking this would be the “last harvest” of their lives.
They said that they treated their land as their children and they could never forget cultivation. They added that they would have to struggle for some period to start a new life without cultivation.
Revenue and CRDA officials meanwhile say it would take around three to five years for establishing the new capital. These years would be a transformation period for the farmers to adapt to other professions.