Punjab: Restoration of 79 abandoned canals on; majority of these encroached upon

Ruchika M Khanna

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Chandigarh, September 10

The Punjab Government has embarked on an ambitious project to restore 79 abandoned canals, having a length of around 445 km. Most of these abandoned canals have been encroached upon.

The project was launched last year by the Department of Water Resources, mainly to reduce dependence on groundwater because of the sharply depleting water table and the state staring at imminent desertification.

Ever since power to the agriculture sector has been made free, farmers prefer to use the power-operated tubewells for irrigation rather than using the canal water, leading to many canals being abandoned. The recent flooding in the state following heavy rain in Himachal Pradesh has brought in urgency for restoring the abandoned canals.

According to the data available with The Tribune, the longest stretch of abandoned canals is in Fazilka (213.04 km), followed by Tarn Taran (105.739 km) and Patiala (82.829 km).

Incidentally, these three cities faced maximum damage during floods this year. These canals have been abandoned since cities started expanding and tail lengths of the canals have been brought under city limits, sometimes even used for construction of roads or merged by farmers with their land, says a report prepared by the Department of Water Resources.

“We have taken up an exercise to first identify the abandoned canals; see which of these can be revived; the status of encroachments; structural status of these canals; and the status of water courses of these canals,” said Krishan Kumar, Principal Secretary, Water Resources.

The department has been now looking into each of these canals on a case-to-case basis to find the most economical way for their restoration.

“We have managed to restore the Luthar canal system (consisting of 12 canals, having 213-km length). Farmers in Fazilka had stopped using canal water as it was polluted because of the release of effluents by tanneries in the neighbouring town of Kasur in Pakistan. When the Sutlej re-enters India from Hussainiwala, its water is polluted. For more than a decade, there was no demand for canal water. We strengthened and raised the banks of Eastern Canal and repaired the gates of Ballewal headworks. As a result, water released from Harike headworks into the Ferozepur feeder was guided in the reverse direction towards Luthar canal. With clean water available, farmers are now using canal water,” said a senior official in the department.

Other than the Luthar canal system, the department has also managed to restore 23 canals in Tarn Taran district.