Relining of canals pending for 8 years

Balwant Garg
Tribune News Service
Faridkot, June 16

For the last eight years, the project of relining the 97-km Rajasthan feeder and 100-km Sirhind feeder, which was approved by the Government of India in 2011, is hanging in balance.

In September 2011, the relining cost of the project was Rs 1,441 crore, which was later revised to Rs 1,977 crore. In December 2018, the Canal Department had floated tenders for relining the canals but in absence of any contractor bidding for the project, it has again been postponed for an indefinite period. Earlier, the tendering process for relining in 2011 and 2015 met the same fate.

The Rajasthan feeder has a capacity of discharging 18,500 cusecs of water and runs through Punjab as a carrier channel to feed the canal system in Rajasthan. The Sirhind feeder has varying capacity and can discharge 5,272 cusecs at the head. It runs through Punjab to feed the command area in the state. Both canals pass through Faridkot and Muktsar. They were constructed in the 1950s and the brick lining of both of them is about 70 years old, without any major repair and maintenance in the last seven decades.

“Due to the crumbling brick lining, the seepage is causing a huge loss of water, adversely affecting the water-carrying capacity of the canals at the tail ends. The relining of the canals will save a huge quantity of water and we are hopeful that the project will start soon,” said Sukhjit Singh Randhawa, executive engineer of the Rajasthan feeder canal.

In October 2018, the Union Government had approved financial assistance to the tune of Rs 826 crore for the relining of canals. The assistance was of Rs 620 croreand Rs 206 crore for Rajasthan and Sirhind canals, respectively. The estimated cost for the project was around Rs 1,977 crore.