CHANDIGARH: Haryana Chief Minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda Sunday invited the opposition leaders who  are politicizing the Yamuna Water Agreement for an open debate in the Vidhan Sabha on this issue.

The Chief Minister was addressing a largely attended Public meeting at Rajaund in district Kaithal. He said that there was sufficient evidence that the previous governments had ignored the interests of the people in signing the agreement. However, the present Government would undo the injustice to the people and protect their interest.

Hooda said that the equitable distribution of irrigation water in the state was the right of farmers and he assured that each and every farmer would get his share of water. The Government had launched four mega canal projects for this purpose. He said that farmers who were deprived of their share of water due to the discriminatory  policy of previous government would start getting their share of water through Hansi-Bhutana canal by the end of this year. The work of this canal was almost near completion. The Government would soon start the construction of Mewat canal. The aim of the state Government was to make the irrigation water reach upto the tail end.

Hooda said that the State Government was accelerating the efforts to achieve the target of generating 5000MW of power during its present tenure. On November 1, the occasion of Haryana Day this year, Yamunanagar Power Thermal  Plant would start generating 300MW of power and another 300MW of power would be start generating by the end of this financial year, he added.

He said that even after 40 years of Haryana coming into existence no State Government had paid any serious attention to the generation of power and overcome the shortage of its ever increasing demand. During these 40 years only 1587 MW of power had been generated as compared to its present requirement of 8000MW in the state. Inspite of the tall promises made during the previous regime for the supply of 24 hours uninterrupted power, not a single  unit was generated in their tenure.

The target of generation of additional 5000 MW would be met and the people would be relieved of any difficulty arising out of shortage of power as they would get sufficient power, he assured. Mr. Hooda said that the works initiated during the last two and a half years tenure of the present government was much more in quantity and quality than the works done during the last 40 years. The announcement of  waiving off  power bills of farmers amounting to Rs. 1600 crore and  waiving of interests of Cooperative Banks' loans to the tune of Rs. 830 crore  was a  record announcement made  by present government to give relief to the common man of the state.

The Chief Minister announced to set up an ITI in Rajaund and construction of a stadium in Rehra village. He also accepted various demands for the development of the area. Projects worth Rs. 40 crore are already in progress in Rajaund area.  President of Haryana Pradesh  Congress committee, Phool Chand Mullana, MP, Mr. Jai Prakash, Education Minister, Mange Ram Gupta, Power Minister,  Randeep Singh Surjewala and Mr. Satwinder Rana, Convener of the Rally also spoke on the occasion.