Tragedy struck the Amaravati Maha Padayatra of the farmers of the Amaravati region on Monday. While the yatra was about to reach Chirrikurapadu in Kondapi mandal from Uppalapadu on Monday evening, the cylinder meant to fill gas into the balloons for the padayatra suddenly exploded. One person was killed and two others were grievously injured.

According to the police, a cylinder to fill gas into balloons was being carried in an autorickshaw as part of the yatra. The police said that the pipe developed a small crack causing an explosion. Meda Navin of Vijayawada’s Krishna Lanka, Pakalabattula Bhaskara Rao and sixty-year-old Vinnakota Raghavendra Rao suffered injuries. Later, Raghavendra Rao died while under treatment in the RIMS hospital in Ongole. The police immediately removed the autorickshaw from the convoy.

Meanwhile, the Amaravati farmers yatra is eliciting good response. On Sunday, NRIs from Singapore and the USA joined the yatra and expressed their solidarity with the farmers on a padayatra. Similarly, IT sector employees from Bengaluru, Pune and Hyderabad extended their support to the yatris. Kondepi MLA Dr D Bala Veeranjaneya Swamy expressed his solidarity by walking some distance along with the yatris.

On Monday, the yatra began from Nidamanuru and covered several villages in Kondapi mandal. Kondapi MLA extended his support all through the yatra. The 45-day yatra, which is being organised with the sole demand of keeping Amaravati as the sole capital of Andhra Pradesh, will end in Tirumala.