Shelving Dadupur-Nalvi canal project would affect farmers: Congress

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala on Friday submitted a memorandum to President Ram Nath Kovind in which he said the shelving of the Dadupur-Nalvi canal project would adversely affect the farmers.

Speaking to ANI, Surjewala said, "Today, I met President Ram Nath Kovind. Dadupur-Nalvi Nahar Pariyojana is the main issue for the farmers of Yamunanagar, Ambala and Kurukshetra. This is the main lifeline of farmers over there. But the chief minister of Haryana, Manohar Lal Khattar, has stopped this pariyojana which will affect many lives. The shelving of the canal project would adversely affect the farmers and it can result in one lakh hectares of fertile land turning barren."

The delegation, led by Surjewala and Bharatiya Kisan Union's (BKU) Haryana President Gurnam Singh Chadhuni, urged the president to not give his assent to the amendment bill to facilitate the de-notification of the Dadupur-Nalvi canal project land in Haryana.

The Congress further alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Government in the state had bartered the farmers' interests.

Surjewala said the project was launched by Congress in 1985, and in October 2005, the party had restarted it and acquired 1,019 acres of land for water-recharging and irrigation through the construction of the Shahbad feeder, Shahbad distributary and Nalvi distributary.

"The farmers were already facing a crisis and had no money to pay for the levelling of the canal, bridges and roads constructed over their land," he added.

He further said President Kovind listened to the issue very carefully and would soon look into the sensitive matter.