The Manohar lal Khattar Government, which will complete its three year term in office later this month and is tom-tomming its achievements in farm sector, would have to face the ire of farmers in the State.
The maiden BJP Government in Haryana is accused of retracting from its poll promises and ignoring the plight of farmers, who form a large voter base in the agrarian State.
As anger is brewing among farmers against Government’s recent decision of scraping Dadupur Nalvi irrigation project, various farmers’ organisations have threatened to launch a statewide agitation against the ruling BJP and also, boycotting the party in next elections.
While the BJP Government has justified its decision stating that the three decades old irrigation project was not found feasible, various farmers’ outfits and opposition parties have termed the decision as “anti-farmer”.
The farmers in the State were already seething with anti-Government sentiment due to non-implementation of Swaminathan report, unfulfilled demand of loan waiver, crop insurance scheme, imposition of fine for stubble burning among other issues.
lashing out at the State Government, Rattan Mann, Haryana president of Bhartiya Kisan Union (Mann faction) while talking to The Pioneer said that this Government is “anti-farmer” and we would launch a protest in Yamunanagar against the BJP for abandoning the Dadupur Nalvi irrigation scheme.
Terming the decision as BJP’s ‘Tughlaki farman’, Mann said that after denotifying the acquired land, the Government is now seeking 15 per cent interest on the compensation amount to give the land back to the farmers. Putting such condition on the farmers is absolutely wrong, he said.
“A series of meetings have been held between farmers and the State leadership, however, our issues have remained unresolved so far. Be it the implementation of Swaminathan report or demand of loan waiver, BJP has done nothing to address these issues related to the farm sector. Given the situation, the farmers have decided to boycott this party in the next elections,” said Mann.
On the issue of stubble burning, he said that imposition of fine on farmers for stubble burning is not the solution to this problem.
Instruments should be provided to the farmers to manage the stubble. Crop stubble will be dumped in front of Government offices from October 9 onwards in protest in various parts of Haryana against Government’s decision of imposition of fine on farmers, added he.
Hitting out at the BJP Government, Gurnam Singh Chaduni, Haryana Kisan union chief said that we will move the court against Government’s decision of scrapping Dadupur Nalvi irrigation project and also, hold protest across the State.
Instead of helping the debt-ridden farmers, the State Government is taking anti-farmer decisions. In the past also, many demands including implementation of Swaminathan report, loan waiver among others have remained unfulfilled in Haryana, he added.
Earlier in June also, various farmers organisations had held protest dharnas in various parts of Haryana demanding immediate implementation of Swaminathan report, loan waiver for debt-ridden farmers, enhanced minimum support price (MSP) on crops among other steps for farmers welfare after Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur incident in which six farmers were killed during police firing.
Shamsher Singh Dahiya, chief of another faction of BKU(A), said that we are against the Government’s decision of scrapping the canal project and will protest across the State. When it comes to dealing with the issues of farmers, the Government has failed on every front, he said.
Notably, Dadupur Nalvi irrigation project was initiated in year 1985 and it was approved by Government for Rs 13 crores for irrigation and recharging of ground water in the Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra and Ambala districts.
As per the project, 2,246.53 acre land was to be acquired for construction of this project, out of which a total of 1,019.2994 acre land was acquired but it has been denotified now.
Announcing to withdraw the project, the Government had on September 27 said that it has not found it feasible after enhancement of the compensation to the farmers following a May 2016 order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.