Colonial legacy restored at UBDC

A report by Tribune correspondent Charanjit Singh Teja and photos by lensman Vishal Kumar

Finally, the city administration has developed the Upper Bari Doab Canal (UBDC) as a picnic destination. Newly developed lanes, parks, open air gym, playground for children, hydropower plant and other infrastructure attract a large number of people to the banks of the historic canal.

Upper Bari Doab Canal

In Punjab, the land between two rivers is known as doab and the region between Ravi and Beas is known as the Bari Doab. The prefix ‘Upper’ was added when a second canal known as Lower Bari Doab was dug. The history of the canal spans over four centuries. First, it was named the Hansli Canal. It was excavated to irrigate the Mughal Gardens in Lahore during the reign of Emperor Shah Jahan. The waters from Madhopur (120 km away on J&K border) traversed over 200 km. In the early 19th century, Maharaja Ranjit Singh expanded the network with another branch to Amritsar so as to provide a perennial source of water to the sacred tank at Darbar Sahib.

It was during the British period, under the governance of John and Henry Lawrence, who annexed Punjab in 1849, that river Ravi was intercepted in the foothills of Madhopur to distribute water through a network of canals. The barrage and regulating head-works were completed in 1875 making it the oldest canal irrigation system in Punjab. The canal irrigated land in Gurdaspur, Amritsar and Lahore districts of undivided Punjab. Today, the canal, spread over a length of 3,119 km, continues to provide water to the regions of Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Batala and Amritsar in Punjab.

Hydropower plant

In 1930, the British built a hydropower plant on the Upper Bari Doab canal. Its turbines and machinery were brought from Switzerland and England. It supplied electricity to the city of Amritsar. A restoration project was envisioned by the Amritsar Smart City Limited. The project included restoration of the historic building and enhancing the area through landscape development that segregates the vehicular and pedestrian movement. Landscape interventions of walking promenades, transitional spaces at regular intervals and viewpoints further enhance the experience of the site.