After scrapping the three decades old Dadupur Nalvi Irrigation Scheme in the year 2017, the Haryana Government on Tuesday approved the modalities of return of land, which seeks 9 percent interest on the compensation amount to give back the denotified land to the farmers.
Haryana Cabinet which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Manohar Lal here approved the proposal to de-notify the land acquired for construction of Dadupur Nalvi Irrigation Scheme.
“The original owners or their legal heirs will return the compensation excluding solatium paid to them alongwith simple interest at the rate of 9 per cent per annum from the date of receipt of compensation by them till the date of return of compensation by depositing the same with Land Acquisition Officer, Ambala,” said an official spokesman.
“However, the government has decided to waive the simple interest for the landowner farmers who do not claim compensation for usage or damages of any kind like usage by government after acquisition and damages for restoration of land,” he said.
The Haryana cabinet had in September 2017 approved the proposal of denotifying 1,019.2994 acres of land acquired for construction of Dadupur Nalvi Irrigation Scheme, terming the project as unviable. At that time, the State Government had sought 15 percent interest on the compensation amount to give back the denotifyied land to the owners but after protest from various corners, it had announced to withdraw the condition of interest.
The scrapping of the project had stirred a political storm with opposition and even farmers unions holding protest against the decision of the State Government.
Notably, Dadupur Nalvi scheme was initiated in year 1985 and project was approved by government for for irrigation and recharging of ground water in the Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra and Ambala districts.
A government’s spokesman on Tuesday said that as the scheme has become unfruitful and totally unviable, the State Government had earlier de-notified 824.71 acres of land vide notification dated August 3, 2018, after approval by cabinet on September 27, 2017.
The government has further de-notified 5.39225 acres of land vide notification dated December 11,2018 by offering alternative land to the land owner farmers as per the provisions of the proviso attached to section 101A of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Haryana Amendment) Act,2017, the approval of which has now been placed before the cabinet alongwith the proposal regarding modalities of return of land to the beneficiaries and in turn compensation to be paid by them, he said.
It has been decided to inform the original land owners and their legal heirs about the decision of the government to return the aforesaid land. The possession of land will be delivered only after the compensation amount is returned and it will be responsibility of the Superintending Engineer, Irrigation and Land Acquisition Officer concerned to ensure delivery of possession of land within three months of the return of compensation alongwith interest, the spokesman said.
He further said that the government has decided to waive even the simple interest for the landowner farmers who do not claim compensation for usage or damages of any kind like usage by government after acquisition and damages for restoration of land.
However, those landowners who seek compensation for usage and damages will have to pay simple interest at the rate of 9 per cent per annum. While submitting their claims, the Land Acquisition Officer, Ambala, the landowners will indicate their choice as to whether they will make payment of interest and claim compensation for usage of damages or not, he added.