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Sumit Hakhoo
Tribune News Service
Jammu, June 19
The failure of the government to regularly repair and desilt canals in Jammu and Kashmir has almost left these defunct. This has forced farmers to depend on precious groundwater to irrigate their fields by using water pumps.
Ahead of the kharif season in the Jammu region where thousands of acres of land is being prepared for cultivation of world-famous basmati, maize and vegetables, farming is becoming unsustainable due to the rising input cost.
Across the villages, which are irrigated by three main channels — Ranbir, Pratap, and Tawi canals — one could witness huge pumps withdrawing water from deep aquifers. This exposed the tall claims of the irrigation and flood control department of strengthening the decades-old network.
According to farmers, a majority of distributaries have not been cleaned for years which has hindered the flow of water. At places, especially along the Ranbir canal, water seeps out from banks as desilting has not been carried for years. Lack of cleaning has also affected the carrying capacity of the canals.
“The mandatory annual repair and desilting is limited to a few kilometres every year. Water does not reach till the tail-end villages. Water is also diverted during its course mainly by brick kilns and there is no check on them,” said Choudhary Dev Raj, president, Basmati Rice Growers’ Association.
Farmers say for the last several years, farmers are preferring not to sow basmati in villages like Dewangarh, Hansa, Mulachak, Chandu Chak in the Suchetgarh sector irrigated by the Ranbir canal.
“There is no planning to utilise the canal network. They have fallen victim to official apathy and corruption. Adequate funds are not being provided for their annual maintenance,” said a senior official in the irrigation and flood control department.
Chief Engineer, Irrigation and Flood Control, Vinod Gupta didn’t respond to repeated attempts to get the government’s version on farmers’ issues.
Main supply line
The 60-km-long Main Ranbir canal originates from the left bank of the Chenab. Having an intake capacity of 1,400 cusecs, it irrigates about 38,608 hectares of farm land in Jammu and Samba districts
The New Pratap canal, having a length of 33.50 km, has discharge capacity of 400 cusecs. It irrigates an area of 9,028 hectares in Akhnoor and Chamb
The Tawi canal under the Ravi Tawi Irrigation Complex has a distribution network of 175 km and discharge capacity of 300 cusecs. It irrigates 12,880 hectares of land in the Kandi belt on the both sides of the Jammu-Samba national highway
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