Rain damages canal banks in Ferozepur, farmers edgy

Abohar, July 15

Due to heavy rains, the Ferozepur feeder canal has got damaged at some places. In turn, the discharge of water in the Gang Canal main feeder, which irrigates a large tract of land in Sriganganagar, has also been reduced from 2,500 to 1,800 cusecs.

The Ganganagar Kisan Mazdoor Samiti today urged Water Resources Department officials to visit Fazilka and Ferozepur to take stock of the situation. The samiti’s legal adviser Harvinder Singh Gill said efforts should be made immediately to expedite the repair work being carried out by the Punjab Irrigation Department.

Gill said due to the rainfall, brick-lining of the canal had got washed away, many trees had fallen in the canal, tracks on both sides had caved in, and there was a possibility of rupture of the canal. This had impacted Gang Canal, which passed through the Abohar-Fazilka area to irrigate Sriganganagar. The discharge of water is diminishing. On Wednesday morning, about 1,800 cusecs was released from the Ballanwala headworks near Ferozepur, while only about 1,500 cusecs was received at Khakha headworks on the Rajasthan-Punjab border near Abohar.

Kisan Sangharsh Samiti spokesman Subhash Sehgal said Gang Canal was set to receive 2,500 cusecs from Punjab, but due to the damage of the Ferozepur feeder, many sub-canals had to be closed. The repair work should be completed at the earliest, because if the problem of water shortage persisted for too long, cotton crop might get affected.

Sehgal said Ferozepur feeder’s renovation work had been hanging fire due to lack of coordination. In 2016, Rajasthan officials had requested their Punjab counterparts to provide a project report on the Ferozepur feeder. The state government had agreed on it in principle, but no progress was made. — OC