Tension mounts at Thullur as police disallow farmers protest rally against R-5 Zone

VIJAYAWADA: Tension mounted when the police stopped the agitating farmers from proceeding to Dr B.R. Ambedkar Smiriti Vanam from a camp at Thullur in Guntur district to protest against setting up the R-5 Zone on Saturday.

As the state government set up the R-5 Zone at Amaravati to give away house sites even to outsiders hailing from the economically weaker sections and the poor, the farmers have been staging protests and even obstructing the ongoing works in the capital region in the last few days.

However, on Saturday, the farmers and villagers intended to take a padayatra from the camp at Thullur to Ambedkar Smiriti Vanam located at Sakhamuru to express their protest. However, the police stopped them from taking out the padayatra, causing mild tension for a while.

However, the police permitted a few farmers and villagers to proceed to Smriti Vanam to subdue the mounting tension in the area.

Meanwhile, Jai Bheem Bharat Party president and High Court advocate Jada Sravan Kumar intended to take out a padayatra from Vijayawada to Ambedkar Smiriti Vanam to express his solidarity with the agitating farmers and villagers in Amaravati. However, the police took him into preventive custody, shifted him to the Nunna police station, and detained him.