Joining the bandwagon of farmers protesting against acquisition of their land for the proposed nuclear power plant at Gorakhpur in Fatehabad district, Indian National Lok Dal on Monday announced that Ellenabad MLA Abhey Chautala would join the protesters to oppose the Haryana government's move at
a public hearing at the village on July 17.
Claiming that an attempted suicide by a farmer had once again reflected the anguish of peasants on the land acquisition issue, INLD secretary general Ajay Chautala said that the Congress government in the state had launched a "false propaganda" that the power plant would benefit Haryana's people. The fact was that all developed countries in the world were shutting down nuclear plants, he said in a press release here.
"If the chief minister thinks it is beneficial for the state, he should get it set up in his home constituency Rohtak," the INLD leader remarked.
On the other hand, terming the opposition stand on the issue "disinformation campaign", state power minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav maintained that those now opposed to the project had urged the Centre, when they were in power, to expedite the setting up of the nuclear power plant since it would immensely benefit Haryana.
Capt Yadav pointed to written communications sent by the then chief ministers Bhajan Lal and Devi Lal to the then prime ministers, namely Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and PV Narasimha Rao, to set up the nuclear power plant in Haryana.
Capt Yadav claimed that the present leadership of opposition parties in Haryana were not interested in the development of the state and welfare of the people. They were not only opposing the government, but also generation of power, which was the pivot of development, he said.