‘CM Raghubar Das compromising with fate of farmers’

RANCHI: A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid foundation stone for revival of the Mdndal dam project in Daltonganj, leader of opposition Hemant Soren accused chief minister Raghubar Das of misleading the Centre and farmers of Jharkhand, claiming that the state will not benefit from the dam.

Soren dared Das of addressing the woes of people from Garhwa, Palamu and Latehar and explain to them what benefit they are going to get from the dam project. He claimed that the dam construction was revived without going through the conditions of water sharing agreement.

“Das is a non-resident Jharkhandi because he hails from Chhattisgarh. So, he is not loyal to farmers and people of Jharkhand. He got the project revived to please the farmers of Bihar at the cost of Jharkhand farmers,” Soren charged.

Announcing that he will take up the fight strongly for the people of Palamu division, Soren said that the objective of his third phase of ‘sangharsh yatra’ will be aimed at creating an awareness among the people, how they have been cheated by Das.

He further said JMM rejects the water-sharing formula right from scratch as it was formulated during the time of undivided Bihar. “Farmers in Jharkhand will lose their land and several villages, including the age-old ChemoSaniya village of noted freedom fighter Neelambar-Peetambar, would be submerged. Still 75% of the water from the dam would be given to Bihar, which is unacceptable to us,” he said.

Asking the state government to revise the water sharing agreement so that at least 70% of the dam water is retained in Jharkhand for providing irrigation facility to the farmers in rain-shadow districts of Palamu division, Soren said his party will take the fight from street to assembly.

Soren who is also the working president of JMM claimed that the assurance of the PM made while addressing the people at the event that the dam would bring prosperity in the region was false and misleading.

“Villagers on this part of the border are not going to get benefit of irrigation because only 25% of water will be used in Jharkhand, particularly in Palamu division, historically known to be a rain-shadow area and suffers with drought situation almost every alternate year,” he said. Soren also criticized the idea of providing 24MW electricity to the people in Garhwa and Palamu as was promised by the PM. “What will the farmers do with electricity if there is no water available to pump to their fields,” he questioned.