RAKESH SINGH Vs. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioners, agriculturists, resident of Village Baroua, District Gwalior vide this Public Interest Litigation take exception to a Communication No.22(A)249-11/MPS/31/1899, Bhopal dated 09/10/2017; whereby, the State of Madhya Pradesh, Water Resources Department through its Deputy Secretary, informs the Chief Engineer, Water Resources Department, Bhopal, granting in principle sanction for rehabilitation of 179 families of Village Pura Hatharia (Gadal Ka Pura) displaced due to construction of Asan Barrage in District Morena, by rehabilitating them by taking over the Tighra Dam Canal, on the anvil that the Canal is not in use for over 30 years. The Communication is reproduced below for ready reference:

(2.) It is urged that Canal in question was never out of use, but because of the drought in last few years in Gwalior region the Canal was not in use because the Tighra Dam which feeds the Canal got dried up. It is urged that Canal was constructed in the year 1947 from Tighra to Banmore via Baroua and have command irrigation area of thousands of hectares. It is urged that the Canal is in constant use for supplying water to Gwalior City to cater its need for drinking water. It is urged that factual position is wrongly narrated by the personnel of Water Resources Department. As a result whereof, the impugned communication is entered into.

(3.) The State of Madhya Pradesh and its functionaries were called upon to respond to the concern expressed by the petitioners.