HPGCL reclaims farm land fertility near thermal power station

Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited (HPGCL) today said it has succeeded in reclaiming the fertility of a farm land in Sutana village, which the farmers alleged had gone barren due to water seepage from the Panipat Thermal Power Station situated nearby.
Joint efforts by HPGCL and Central Soil and Salinity Research Institute (CSSRI), Karnal since October, last year, have finally resulted in successful planting of paddy in 10.5 acre in Sutana village of Panipat district. The land was lying uncultivated since 2009, a spokesperson of HPGCL said here.
In 2008, farmers of the village had filed a civil suit before the Punjab and Haryana High Court against HPGCL alleging that their 10.5 acre land near Thermal Power Station, Panipat had become barren due to seepage of water from it.

Since the High Court could not come to any conclusion about the cause of water seepage, the farmers filed a petition before the Committee on Petitions, Haryana Vidhan Sabha Secretariat, alleging that no crop could be grown by them due to the seepage of water, the spokesperson said.
The farmers sought compensation for not being able to grow crops since 2009 and the HPGCL to acquire the land.
The committee decided that HPGCL would take the land on lease for two years and make it cultivable and pay lease money to the farmers since 2009 at simple interest, he said.

The spokesperson said HPGCL, being fully aware of its socio-economic responsibilities, accepted the challenge and a roadmap was prepared under the guidance of the Scientists from CSSRI, Karnal.
Conditioning of the soil was done and paddy was sowed on the land in June, he said, adding HPGCL is willing to share the experience it has gained from this experiment, with other thermal power stations of the country.