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Economy
Mahesh

07/08/24 11:34 AM IST

Punjab plans for a new irrigation canal

In News
  • The Punjab government faces a serious funds crunch, and some experts have raised questions over the technical viability of the proposed project.
Malwa canal
  • The proposed 149.53-km canal is named after Malwa, the biggest and politically most important of the three geographical and cultural regions of Punjab, which sprawls across the entire southern part of the state.
  • The proposed 50-foot wide and 12-foot deep canal will originate at the Harike Headworks on the Sutlej river in Ferozepur district, and will carry 2,000 cusecs of water. (A cusec is flow equivalent to 1 cubic foot per second.)
  • The proposed canal, which will tail off at Warring Khera village in Muktsar district close to the border with Haryana, will flow parallel to the Sirhind Feeder and Rajasthan Feeder canals, to the latter’s east.
  • The canal, which is expected to take five years to build, is projected to irrigate 2 lakh acres of land in seven districts.
Need for a new canal
  • The Malwa canal proposes to provide additional water to the left side of the Rajasthan Feeder canal, which the Sirhind Feeder cannot supply effectively, especially during the kharif paddy sowing season, when the demand is high. (The Rajasthan Feeder carries waters of the Ravi and Beas exclusively for Rajasthan.)
  • Since the 51-km Ferozepur Feeder, which takes off from the Harike Headworks, struggles to cater to the entire state, supply to the 136-km Sirhind Feeder, which begins from the Ferozepur Feeder, is impacted.
  • The situation becomes so severe that Punjab has to run its canals by rotation.
  • More than 300 lift pumps operate on the Sirhind Feeder between Faridkot and Muktsar, irrigating the area on the left bank of the Rajasthan Feeder.
  • This area was originally irrigated by the Abohar Branch Upper and Bathinda Branch of the Sirhind canal system, fed from the Ropar Headworks. Farmers in Abohar and Fazilka have often asked for canal water, complaining that the groundwater in the area is polluted.
Challenges
  • Funds for the Rs-2,300 crore project is the primary hurdle before the state already reeling under a debt burden of Rs 3.5 lakh crore.
  • Given the hostility between the BJP-led central government and the AAP government in Punjab, the Centre is not expected to be helpful.
  • The state is looking at securing funding from the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).
  • The regular process of carrying out a socio-economic survey to figure out the need for land acquisition, and to assess the extent of human displacement and rehabilitation and compensation, will have to be gone through.
  • Environmental clearance, permission to fell trees, and clearance from the Central Water Commission will be needed.
  • The Detailed Project Report (DPR) is in the process of being submitted.
  • There wasn’t enough water to begin with. “If we had the water, why would we need to run the existing canals by rotation?
Source- Indian Express

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