Canal water revives parched fields in 3 districts of Punjab

Mohit Khanna

Patiala, June 27

For years, villagers have battled the relentless depletion of groundwater, the escalating costs of maintaining tubewells and the harsh realities of a receding water table. While in Patiala and Fatehgarh Sahib districts, canal water irrigation has resumed after 40 years, it has arrived for the first time at a village of Amargarh town in Malerkotla.

Manjeet Singh, a 35-year-old resident of Ghujerheri village, is excitedly walking in the drain full of water, irrigating his 12 acres.

“Since my childhood, we have been irrigating the fields through tubewells. Over the years, the water started depleting. The officials, especially Ziledar of the Irrigation Department Tejpal Singh, were quick to help. With their support, we cleared the encroached land and carved out a drain. Previously, nearly 50 tubewells irrigated over 200 acres, but now, we use canal water,” said Manjeet Singh.

As per the official record, currently there are 13.94 lakh tubewells across the state pumping out gallons of water during the paddy transplanting season. However, things have changed for the better in the villages of Gowara and Raipur, where underground pipes have replaced around 350 tubewells.

Gurjit Singh, a 52-year-old resident of Gowara, shared the collective relief of his village. “After over 40 years, canal water has reached us again. It had become an annual ordeal to dig borewells during the paddy season, costing us around Rs 10,000 each time. Approaching the government for help was a long and tedious process, but with the support of the Irrigation Department and the tubewell corporation, we laid a web of underground pipes across the village at an expenditure of over Rs 2 crore borne by the government. Nearly 800 acres are now irrigated and we’ve amicably decided the schedule for watering our fields,” said Gurjit Singh.

In Amloh’s Mallowal village, a 5-km stretch of canal water outlet had been blocked by encroachments for 40 years. With government intervention, the path was cleared and canal water now irrigates at least 300 acres in Bharpoorgarh and Mallowal villages.

Karan Gupta, a Patwari who has been instrumental in motivating the villagers, said, “Earlier, 20 tubewells used to pump out water. Now, canal water is sufficient to irrigate the fields.”

The return of canal water was met with joyous celebrations in Raipur village. Gurjit Singh (50) and fellow villagers offered prayers and distributed sweets as canal water reached their fields through the newly installed underground pipes.

“Over 700 acres will now be irrigated with surface water, ending the use of 250 tubewells and the exploitation of groundwater. A 4.5 km long pipeline, dug 6 ft under the earth, now brings canal water to our villages,” Gurjit Singh explained.

Canal-irrigated area shrinks over past 60 yrs

According to Rajan Aggarwal, Principal Scientist, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), in the past 60 years, the canal-irrigated area decreased from 58.4 per cent to 28 per cent, while the tubewell-irrigated area increased from 41.1 per cent to 71.3 per cent. There was a big jump in the dependency on groundwater for irrigation between 1990-91 and 2000-01, said Aggarwal.

Groundwater in 114 blocks over-exploited

The total annual groundwater recharge of the state has been assessed as 18.84 billion cubic metre (bcm). The annual groundwater extraction is 27.8 bcm. Of the 150 assessed blocks in Punjab, the Central Ground Water Assessment Board, in a report submitted in 2022, categorised 114 blocks over-exploited and 3 blocks as critical, 13 blocks as semi-critical and 20 blocks as safe.

Change for the better

Since my childhood, we have been irrigating the fields through tubewells. Over the years, the water started depleting. The officials were quick to help. Previously, 50 tubewells irrigated over 200 acres, but now, we use canal water. — Manjeet Singh, resident of Ghujerheri village