Even as the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) Bill, passed in the Assembly, is waiting for the governor’s assent, the farmers in Tullur mandal in Guntur district are busy examining various options before them to stall the attempts of the government to take away their lands under its new land-pooling scheme for the construction of capital city for Andhra Pradesh.

They would meet in Hyderabad on January 5 to chalk out their course of agitation. They are inviting several national-level activists, who are involved in protection of cultivable land, to expose the grey areas in the CRDA. The farmers believe that the courts would go to their rescue.

The experts to be involved include former bureaucrat KR Venugopal who retired in 1995 as secretary to the prime minister of India and also special rapporteur to India’s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Dr MS Swaminathan, founder of India’s Green Revolution and MG Devasahayam, former administrator of Chandigarh Capital Project and who is now working on behalf of the National Alliance of People’s Movement (NAPM) headed by Medha Patkar. Apart from them, there would be two experts in urban planning. At the moment, they believe they have four options before them.