Sirhind canal renovation work to begin soon

Sameer Singh

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, February 25

Work on renovation of the Sirhind canal in Bathinda district by the Irrigation Department will begin soon. A local unit of the department has already got administrative approval from the state government for the same and tender for the project work would be floated in the next financial year (after March).

As part of the renovation project, a canal stretch of around 22km starting from Bibiwala village till Multania village would be concretised (cemented) with an estimated cost of Rs 45 crore. Notably, concretisation of the canal would provide much needed relief to scores of farmers in many villages whose crops used to get destroyed after frequent breach in embankments, submerging fields sprawling in hundreds of acres of agricultural land every year.

Talking to The Tribune, Ramanpreet Singh, XEN Canal department Bathinda zone, said, “The renovation project to concretise a 22-km stretch of Sirhind canal from Bibiwala village till Multania village is in the nascent stage. We have got the administrative approval for the project but are yet to draft specifications, float tender and prepare estimated cost for the same. As per the initial surveys, it is expected that the work on stretch would require approximately Rs 40 to Rs 45 crore. It will take few more months before the work could be started.”

Notably, there are seven tributary channels — Kot bhai tributary, Teona, NFL, Bathinda, Bathinda Cantt, Raikalan and Behman tributary channel — of Sirhind canal whose water is used for irrigation purposes in several villages of the district.

Frequent breach in the canal especially during rainy season causes sizable damage to the standing crops in many villages every year but concretisation of the canal would prevent such incidents and thereby protect crops from vagaries of nature, added Singh.