Congress flays Haryana govt over new norms for tubewell connection

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 8

Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala on Tuesday condemned the BJP-JJP government for change in rules for tubewell connections.

Addressing a press conference, Surjewala cited the May 1 policy issued by power companies and said,” Now, if the farmer’s land comes under the canal command area, no tubewell connection will be allotted to him.”

He said it implied that no tubewell connections would be sanctioned in Ambala, Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Panipat, Kaithal, Jind, Hisar, Fatehabad, Bhiwani, Charkhi Dadri, Mahendragarh, Nuh and Gurugram.

“Does the Khattar-Dushyant Chautala duo is not aware that canal water is available in most of Haryana for only seven days in a month? In southern Haryana, the turn for irrigation water comes after 45 days and sometimes even after 60 days. So how will a farmer be able to cultivate his land?”he asked.

He said the policy mentioned that tubewell connections of more than 30 BHP would not be sanctioned in the future. “In the whole of southern Haryana, especially in Bhiwani, Charkhi Dadri, Mahendragarh, Rewari, Nuh, and Gurugram, the groundwater level is so deep that most of the motors are of 40-50 BHP. This order means that now onwards, no farmer will be sanctioned tubewell connection in southern Haryana,” he said. Hooda said it was being reported that connections would be given to only those farmers who got an NOC from the Irrigation Department. “In such a situation, the farmers, who had deposited the security many years ago, are left clueless and wondering what to do next,” he said.

The Leader of the Opposition alleged that the government was recovering crores from farmers in the name of connections. Several farmers had deposited the security for the connection many years ago, but they had not got it to date.