Doaba gets its lifeline, the Bist-Doab canal

It was the year 1937 and due to continuous drought for many years, the serene Bist Doab area, situated between the Beas and Satluj rivers, turned into a parched land. Due to the construction of Sirhind canal, Satluj was reduced to being a small river. A hue and cry was raised by the farmers of the area and with the beginning of the Kisan Kirti movement, the demand for a separate river canal for Doaba began to be raised.

Rachna Khaira

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, May 28

It was the summer of 1954 when hundreds of people from village Kangniwal and other adjoining villages gathered on the banks of the Bist-doab canal constructed recently in their area. The officials from the water and irrigation department came to them in the morning and informed that water would be released that day in the canal.

To witness the historic movement, people suffering from severe drought and water scarcity for the last many years in the Doaba region, rushed to the canal passing through their village.

Among them was Chiranji Lal, who along with his friends, went there to witness the event. “There was a huge celebration in our village and nearby areas. We were facing an acute shortage of water for the last many years. Even our agricultural land had become parched and dry due to drought. So, the filling of the canal with water was a dream come true for us,” said Lal who is now 70 years old.

Remembering the proud moment even after 63 years, a smile appeared on his face. “As soon as we saw huge splashes of water gushing trough the canal, we began to clap and started shouting. The moment water passed through the small bridge erected over it, we couldn’t hold ourselves and jumped into it,” said Lal.

Bursting into laughter, Lal informed that as the stream was carrying bushes and litter along with it, the hair of many got entangled in it. “Still, no one wanted to miss the chance to swim through the stream, a ritual that went on till late at night,” said Lal.

The construction of the canal though was not an easy task. According to 89-year-old Babu Chaman Lal, a resident of the same village, the construction of the Bist-Doab canal involved a long struggle of 16 years followed by a huge agitation and ‘Jail Bharo Aandolan’ over the ‘Khush Hasiati’ tax imposed by the Congress government.

The background

Being located between two major rivers— Beas and Satluj— the Doaba region, was known as a serene place and was a favourite among the Mughal emperors and also the rulers of Punjab who had their ‘holiday homes’ here.

It was only due to this reason that Nurjahan, wife of Mughal emperor Jahangir (1605-1627) constructed a Serai and a palace in the Nurmahal area of Doaba region.

However, later in 1935, with consistent drought for over many years, the farmers in the area began to perish due to hunger and demanded a separate river for the area. The water level in wells went below 52 to 56 feet and many wells even went dry. In many areas, farmers had to descend into wells to take out water to irrigate their fields through buckets.

However, with the onset of the Kisan Kirti movement, the demand got mass support and huge demonstrations began to be reported from all over Punjab to get a separate river in the area.

According to Chiranji Lal, now an eminent scholar of Ghadarite movement, the region was a major centre for Ghadar and Babbar Akali activities and the British government had declared it an area of revolutionaries and was not willing to carry out any development there. “They declared that as the area is situated at a higher level, a river cannot be brought there from Ropar. However, this could not stop the mass agitation at various places and it spread further,” said Lal.

Biggest demonstration for ‘Doabe mein naher nikalo’ in Jalandhar

According to Lal, the biggest agitation was reported from Jalandhar on December 20, 1938, when around one lakh farmers led by Ghadarites Baba Kesar Singh Thathgarh, president of the Punjab Kisan Sabha, Baba Hari Singh Soond, president of the District Kisan Committee, Chain Singh, Baba Bhag SIngh Canadian, Jwala Singh, Master Tara Singh and other leaders of the Kisan Kirti Party assembled in the Company Bagh area and demanded the construction of a river in the Bist-Doab area.

The protest was a huge success and it sent a clear signal to the British government that a river in the area would soon become a reality.

River survey ordered, but could not begin

The Unionist Party led by Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan was formed in 1936 to represent the interests of the landlords and farmers of Punjab which included Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. Khan led his party to a win in the first ever elections held in Punjab under the British rule in 1937 under the Government of India Act 1935 and became the Chief Minister (known as Prime Minister during that time) of Punjab.

Khan, supported by his Revenue Minister Sir Chotu Ram, ordered a survey for the construction of a river in the same year. However, the struggle to demand a river for Doaba began with much hype but the issue somehow got lost during the last phase of the freedom struggle that began in 1940. India finally became independent in 1947. Doaba, meanwhile, became more parched and dry and even led to the migration of farmers and general public to distant places.

Doaba gets its lifeline

With the survey of the Bhakra dam project began the survey for the Bist-Doab canal and finally the construction began somewhere around 1950. People from nearby villages from where the canal route was proposed, were especially roped in for the construction and were given Rs 1.25 as daily wages. The construction was finally completed in 1954-55 and with the release of over 1452 cusecs of water into the 802 km long canal route, passing majorly through Ropar, Balachaur, Nawanshahr and Jalandhar, Doaba got its much awaited lifeline.

Canal brought prosperity, luck and hope

With the construction of the river in the highly fertile region of Doaba, the area contributed the maximum to the green revolution in the 1960s. The period later saw an exponential growth in agricultural output giving a huge boost to the country’s economy. Billions of tons of excess grains and dairy products were transferred from the affluent to the less fortunate.

Punjab Govt imposed ‘Khush Hasiati tax’, agitation begins

For the construction of the Bhakra Dam, the Central Government had given a loan of Rs 104 crore at an interest of 4.25 per cent to the Punjab government in 1959. The state government was asked to immediately pay Rs 50 crore as the first installment.

To get out of the crisis, the first elected government after independence in Punjab imposed ‘Khush Hasiati tax’ on the people. The then Chief Minister, Pratap Singh Kairon, issued stringent orders to recover tax from the people.

This led to a huge agitation in the state followed by a Jail Bharo Aandolan. A huge conference was held at village Bilga on January 24, the same year where around 7,000 people from over 25 villages, participated in the event.

Many more conferences were also held in Doaba which included Gunachaur, Banga, Bada Pind, Phillaur and Bilga. On February 2, 1956, Baba Bhagat Singh Bilga held a conference with over 20,000 people and passed a resolution for the abolition of the controversial tax.

The district courts of Jalandhar became the battleground for farmers. After attending the conferences, they would go to the court premises and surrender in front of the police.

The fight between Pratap SIngh Kairon and Baba Bilga was so fierce that according to historians, many even threatened to shoot Baba Bilga. This led to another series of fierce demonstrations all over the state and finally, the Kairon government had to take back its decision.

Present situation: River goes dry, disappears at many places

Even though the region got the river after a lot of struggle, it has now disappeared from many places due to rapid urbanisation. While a majority of the canal area in Doaba went dry for the last many years, the area passing through the urban areas vanished completely due to the construction of hotels, schools and other residential colonies.

According to department officials, while the river is 802 km long and has 52 distributaries in Doaba, only a few of them actually run in reality, that too for just four months, from June to September. With the advent of tube well culture in Punjab, while the rivers are going dry, the groundwater, so essential for sustaining human life, is fast getting depleted.