CHANDIGARH / PATIALA: Punjab Water Resources Minister Barinder Kumar Goyal on Tuesday (November 10) announced two major canal irrigation projects worth a combined Rs 100.65 crore, which the state government says will assure surface-water irrigation to more than 90,000 acres and reduce farmers' dependence on groundwater. Goyal announced the projects at a press conference at Punjab Bhawan in Chandigarh, the Punjab Government said in its official release, and the ANI news agency independently reported the same press conference and the main 1-R Distributary project the same day.

Source: Punjab Government / PunjabPage

Rs 100.65 croreCombined cost of the two canal projects announced Tuesday
69,967 acresExisting command area of the 1-R Distributary (about 80 villages, Fatehgarh Sahib and Patiala)
20,719 acresPatiala land to get canal water for the first time under the Kapuri Lift Scheme (20 villages)
154.50 to 248.69 cusecs1-R Distributary carrying capacity before and after concrete lining
Rs 7,500 croreAmount the minister said Punjab has invested in canal infrastructure so far

1-R Distributary: Rs 64.11 crore to rebuild a 60-year-old channel

The larger project is the concrete lining of the 1-R Distributary System, approved at an estimated Rs 64.11 crore. The distributary was designed around six decades ago and serves an existing Culturable Command Area of 69,967 acres across approximately 80 villages in Fatehgarh Sahib and Patiala districts. Concrete lining — side lining on the initial stretch and both side and bed lining on the remaining length — will raise its carrying capacity from 154.50 cusecs to 248.69 cusecs, the minister said, adding that Rs 40 crore has been allocated for the project in the current financial year and that the tender process is expected to begin soon, according to ANI's report of the press conference.

Source: ANI via Indian Economic Observer

Goyal said the upgrade had become essential because the government has raised the water allowance of the Bhakra Main Line system from 2.04 to 3.05 cusecs per 1,000 acres — the rate for which the 1-R Distributary was originally designed — increasing the required carrying capacity of channels by about 1.5 times. The old unlined channel had deteriorated, with leakage and seepage causing substantial water losses, he said.

Kapuri Lift Scheme: canal water for the first time in 20 Patiala villages

The second project, the Kapuri Lift Irrigation Scheme, has been formulated at Rs 36.54 crore and will lift water and carry it through a network of distribution pipelines directly to fields in an area of Patiala district along the Haryana border that, the minister said, has historically had no canal-water facilities and has depended heavily on groundwater. It will be executed in phases, with Rs 4 crore proposed for the first phase in the current financial year. The 20 villages listed by the government are Sarala Kalan, Kamalpur, Kapuri, Lachhru Khurd, Sautan, Rampur, Chamaru, Taharpur, Jharwan, Harpalan, Narayangarh, Loh Simbli, Darwa, Shamaspur, Dharmgarh, Madian, Kami Khurd, Untsar, Nanheri and Sheikhpura.

Source: Punjab Government / PunjabPage

Why the government says it matters

"The Kapuri Lift Irrigation Scheme addresses a long-standing demand of farmers in an area where canal-water facilities were historically unavailable. For the first time, 20,719 acres will receive assured canal-water irrigation. This will reduce pressure on groundwater and strengthen the sustainability of agriculture," Goyal said. He said the Mann government has invested approximately Rs 7,500 crore in strengthening canal infrastructure, with around 14,000 kilometres of watercourses constructed or pipelined and more than 19,000 watercourses restored — figures given by the minister at the press conference. Better canal supply would cut farmers' dependence on tubewells and lower the power-subsidy requirement for farm electricity, he added.

Goyal also linked the push to Punjab's role in national food security, saying the state contributes around 48 per cent of wheat and 21 per cent of rice to the Central Pool despite accounting for less than two per cent of India's geographical area. No completion dates for either project were given in Tuesday's announcement; the 1-R lining is at the tender stage and the Kapuri scheme will be built in phases, so farmers in the two districts will see the benefit only as the works are executed. Sources: Punjab Government official release via PunjabPage; ANI.

Source: Punjab Government / PunjabPage