No water released in Bist Doaba Canal since January

The government’s priority seems to be the Malwa region,said sources.

The water in the canal is released by the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB).

The Jalandhar division has requested the government to release the water,but to no avail. This canal between the Sutlej and Beas rivers passes through four districts of Doaba region,including

Nawanshahr,Hoshiarpur,Jalandhar and Kapurthala.

Doaba is also the worst affected when it comes to maintenance of canals. Most channels are either encroached or filled with earth for over a decade now. Only a few distributaries in Doaba get water.

The canal has a share of 1,452 cusec water,according to the canal irrigation department. But it has not received this quantity in many years now,said sources in the department. It is only during the rainy season that it gets some water,but that too for a 7-10 days in a month.

Executive Engineer,Bist Doab Division,Jalandhar,Dalip Singh could not be contacted for comments.

SDO A S Chahal,however,admitted that no water has been released in

Bist Doaba Canal since January,although the distributaries have been cleaned many times under the NREGA scheme.

He said the canals in Malwa region are getting water and was hopeful that the Doaba region will also get it soon.

At several places,especially on the outskirts of the cities,the distributaries have been encroached upon. The Bist Doab Canal,which was completed in 1954-55,takes off from the right bank of the Satluj River from the Rupnagar Headworks.

But the area irrigated by different branches of the canal in Doaba has never been more than 10 per cent of the total irrigated area in the region.