Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala Wednesday condemned the denotification of the Dadupur-Nalvi canal project, describing the state government's move a 'grave injustice, betrayal and deception with farmers of northern Haryana.
"The decision of the Khattar government, asking affected farmers to return the compensation amount along with interest has dealt a severe blow to them," said the Kaithal MLA, accusing the government of pursuing "anti-farmer policies".
He said while farmers of northern Haryana were staring at bleak future due to depleting water table, the government told them to return the the compensation along with interest.
"The decision has once again shown the anti-farmer attitude of the BJP government," he alleged, claiming that project was the "lifeline of northern Haryana".
Surjewala said the "anti-people" decision would deprive around one lakh hectares in 225 villages of Ambala, Yamunanagar and Kurukshetra of an essential irrigation facility.
"The Dadupur-Nalvi project is an absolute necessity not only for northern Haryana but for the entire region," he added.
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Surjewala termed the decision a cheating with farmers.
"If the state government wants to cancel the project, then it has no moral right to demand the compensation amount," he added.
The Kaithal MLA also referred to the Chhattisgarh government's decision of returning the 1,764 hectares acquired for a TATA steel plant to farmers, saying the land was returned as it could not be "utilised for the acquired project in five years of its acquisition".
The Congress leader said in the Singur land acquisition case, a Supreme Court Bench of Justice V Gopala Gowda and Justice Arun Mishra had decided that farmers who had taken compensation in lieu of land need not to return the compensation amount as they had been deprived of their lands and its fruits for 10 years.
"The same conditions are applicable here.The move stands in total contravention of the decision of the Supreme Court in the Singur case," he added.
The Haryana government had Tuesday decided to denotify the project in a cabinet meeting after finding it "unfruitful and totally unviable", an official release said earlier.
The state government had decided to scrap the project in 2017.
The Dadupur-Nalvi irrigation project was conceptualised in 1985 and approved in 2005 by the then state government to recharge the groundwater and provide canal irrigation in Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra and Ambala districts.
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