Dredging is the way forward

According to the Central Government’s assessment published in the media, only 15 per cent of the blocks in Punjab are not stressed as far as underground water is concerned. The rest have seriously depleted their underground reserves of water. Many of these stressed blocks are close to the rivers. The Sutlej forms the boundary between Ludhiana and Jalandhar districts; the water table has deepened from an average of 40 ft in the mid-1960s to more than 200 ft in Ludhiana and a little less in Jalandhar. In some areas of Moga, which is on the southern bank of the Sutlej, the water table has dropped to more than 300 ft. The situation in Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, Kapurthala, Amritsar and Tarn Taran is no better. These districts are located on both sides of the Beas. The situation along the Ravi in Gurdaspur and Amritsar districts is also not rosy. The primary reason for this depletion is the overexploitation of underground water for the cultivation of the coarse variety of rice. 

During the 1960s, the Centre was desperate to become self-sufficient in foodgrains. It was fed up with importing wheat and rice. The US was supplying wheat under the PL480 programme. The farming community of Punjab took up the challenge thrown by the Centre and started planting the water-guzzling coarse variety of rice which quickly began to adversely impact the water table. The Centre was under the impression that there was sufficient river water in Punjab, which was adequate for its own needs and that it could spare water for the neighbouring states. Punjab’s policy of giving free power for irrigation wells and the Centre’s decision on the procurement of paddy at the minimum support price (MSP) emboldened the farmers.  

After a protracted tussle, a World Bank-brokered deal for sharing the waters of the Indus Basin was signed by India and Pakistan in 1960. It estimated that 33 million acre ft (MAF) of water was available from the three eastern rivers — the Sutlej, Beas and Ravi. All this water was allocated exclusively to India. India had pleaded that this water was necessary for the irrigation needs of Punjab, which included Haryana at that time, and the desert state of Rajasthan, which was heavily water-deficient. The water of the three western rivers — Chenab, Jhelum and the Indus — was estimated to be 80 MAF. All this was allocated to Pakistan. India could utilise only 20 per cent of the waters of the western rivers for power generation, fish breeding, navigation and potable use. Since most of the Indus Basin was in Pakistan, this allocation was considered fair by both countries. After the Bhakra and Pong dams were constructed and the storage at the headworks in Nangal, Ropar and Harike was taken into account, the availability of canal water in Punjab was assessed to be 16 MAF. Of this, 8.1 MAF was allocated to Rajasthan, much to Punjab’s chagrin.

Rajasthan’s share of water was to be given mostly from the Harike headworks. According to the figures provided by the design office of the Punjab PWD irrigation branch, the capacity of the Rajasthan canal off-taking from Harike was 18,500 cubic ft per second (cusecs). The Ferozepur feeder was designed to carry 11,192 cusecs and the local area-irrigating Makhu canal was designed to carry roughly 300 cusecs. 

The conflict between Punjab and Rajasthan originates from the Harike headworks. This lake’s original storage capacity was 67,900 acre ft. Due to the cutting of trees on a massive scale all over agricultural and urban Punjab, this lake has been silted up so heavily over the past 66 years that its storage capacity has come down to merely 9,300 acre ft. How can we store more water when there is hardly any storage capacity left in the lake? I recommend immediate deep dredging of the Harike lake to augment its storage capacity to more than 80,000 acre ft. The dredged material can be dumped on government land or on specifically acquired land in adjoining Tarn Taran district and Sultanpur Lodhi tehsil of Kapurthala district. 

Dredging of the Harike lake alone will ensure authorised quantity of water for both Rajasthan and the Malwa belt of Punjab. Water will flow to Pakistan only in the event of continuous week-long rain. At present, only Muktsar and some parts of Bathinda are getting adequate quantity of canal water. The Abohar area gets the left-over water from Muktsar at the tail-end. With augmented supply, some more parts of Ferozepur, Moga, Faridkot and Fazilka districts will get the supply by gravity flow or pumped flow. In case of very low water level in the lake, provision can be made for pumping with high-volume pumps. 

The Ropar headworks and the Madhopur headworks, though not as badly silted up, need dredging too. Doubling their capacity will ensure adequate water for irrigating the districts of Ludhiana, Nawanshahr, Jalandhar, Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Amritsar and Tarn Taran round the year. There are some drains in the former waterlogged areas of Gurdaspur and Amritsar and excess water can be released into these drains, too, for recharging the water table. At least 200 cusecs of Beas water should be released daily in Kali Bein of Kapurthala. This will help in de-stressing a big chunk of area in Bholath, Kapurthala and Sultanpur Lodhi tehsils. All blocks in Patiala and Sangrur districts are also stressed. The Bhakra Main Line supplying water to Haryana passes through Patiala. Under a special arrangement, Patiala and Sangrur should get additional water from Bhakra in lieu of stopping the cultivation of paddy.  

Punjab is fund-starved. It has to request the Centre to provide funds to the tune of thousands of crores for dredging and transportation and deposition of dredged soil. Estimates can be made by the Punjab Public Works Department (PWD) and the Centre’s Water Commission. Mechanical wet dredging is probably the best available option for desilting of Punjab’s canal-feeding lakes. Meanwhile, cultivation of paddy should be banned in all non-canal-fed areas of Punjab.

The author is a retired water resources engineer