The farmers of Amaravati villages on Wednesday strongly opposed the state government’s move to sell lands from the capital villages. They termed the government’s plan as contempt of court and threatened to sue the government in the court. The issue over Amaravati is still pending in the Supreme Court, they said and wondered how the government would sell the lands.

The state government had proposed to sell 10 acres of land at Navuluru village and four acres at Pichukalapalem village. However, the government did not mention why it had proposed to sell the lands.

The farmers said that the lands were taken from them by the government promising to build a capital city on the lands. However, with the present government planning to shift the capital to Visakhapatnam, they said that both shifting of the capital and sale of lands was against the agreement that they have signed with the government.

The farmers held a protest at Mandadam village against the government’s proposal. They also alleged that the government was betraying them by proposing to sell the lands that were taken for the capital. They demanded that the government develop the lands as agreed earlier and have capital in the villages.

Any attempt by the government to deviate from the earlier agreement was a violation of the rule of law, the farmers said. They also termed the move as contempt of the court and violation of the AP high court order issued in February last year.