INLD to hold protest againt denotification of irrigation project

CHANDIGARH: Opposing the Haryana government decision to scrap the Dadupur-Nalvi irrigation project, leader of the opposition Abhay Singh Chautala and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) state president Ashok Arora on Thursday announced to hold demonstrations against the same from October 3.

The INLD leaders accused the BJP government of prejudice against farmers and of pursuing policies that hurt them. They said the Dadupur-Nalvi project was conceived in 1985 with the specific purpose of irrigating farmlands in

Yamunanagar

, Ambala and Kurukshetra districts. Besides, the project was to arrest the ever-decreasing groundwater levels, they said, adding, that would have also helped meeting the drinking water challenge in those districts. Of the three districts, Kurukshetra had already been identified as being in the ‘red zone’ where water crisis was looming large, they said.

The INLD leaders said Haryana was already facing water crisis with depleting ground water and therefore, the INLD was of the opinion that the Dadupur-Nalvi project needed to be completed as soon as possible. However, if the government insisted upon implementing its decision to de-notify the land acquired for the project, they would oppose it with all democratic and constitutional means available to them.

As a first step, the INLD would hold a demonstration in Shahbad on October 3, they added. This demonstration would be followed by another on October 4 in Yamunanagar. Subsequently, a meeting of the national and state executive committee members, MPs, former MPs, MLAs, former MLAs, rural and urban halqa presidents, state and district presidents of various cells of the INLD would follow, the said.