Finally, govt files report on canal relining project

Raj Sadosh

Abohar, July 21

In response to a grievance petition submitted to the Prime Minister, the Jal Shakti Ministry has informed that the Punjab Government had on June 19 sent a detailed project report (DPR) to the Rajasthan Government, stating that the relining of the Ferozepur feeder canal will cost Rs 348.14 crore.

In June, the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti had filed the petition before the Prime Minister and the Minister of Jal Shakti, saying that the Ferozepur feeder’s renovation work had been hanging fire due to lack of coordination.

In December 2014, then Minister for Water Resources Department Dr Ram Pratap Sahu of Rajasthan had told then Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal of the delay in the relining of Ferozepur/Rajasthan Feeder (RF) and Sirhind Feeder (SF), which carried water to the state from the Harike headworks in Punjab. Subsequently, Badal had informed Sahu that the process of relining of the canals, worth Rs 200 crore, was in the pipeline, and global tenders in this connection had already been floated.

The seepage from the 60-year-old Ferozepur feeder with a capacity of 15,000 cusecs was found to be 21 per cent of the total annual groundwater recharge.

CM Ashok Gehlot had also taken up the matter with CM Capt Amarinder Singh last year, and the latter had assured it will be resolved soon.

KSS spokesman Subhash Sehgal today said the previous government in Punjab, in 2015, had cleared a project worth Rs 1.8 crore to enhance the supply of water in the eastern canal that benefits the Fazilka district. However, the work was caught in a limbo, as the two bridges had not been constructed on the canal.

“We informed the Prime Minister and the Jal Shakti Minister that in the past three months, water from the Ferozepur headworks was being released to Pakistan instead of meeting the demand of the Rajasthan Government. The PMO has sought a reply on this from the Indus Water wing of the Jal Shakti Ministry,” Sehgal said.

The KSS has urged the Rajasthan Government to examine the DPR, and finalise a plan to start the relining work of the Ferozepur/Rajasthan feeder canal at the earliest.