Canals to be closed for 30 days in Abohar

Our Correspondent

Abohar, November 30

The Irrigation Department has announced to close two main canals in Abohar sub-division for 30 days.

Executive Engineer (XEN) Udaikaran Pal Singh Sran said the reconstruction work of the Malukpura distributary and Malukpura minor (sub-canal) was to be taken up for which the state government had approved Rs 15 crore to meet the long-pending demand of farmers and others.

The main canals and sub-canals emanating from these will remain closed from December 13 for 30 days. Elaborate arrangements have been made to ensure that the work is completed in the stipulated time under a perfect quality control monitoring system.

The XEN said rural water supply agencies and Punjab Water Supply Sewerage Board officials had been directed to store sufficient water to meet consumers’ requirements for a month. The farmers have also been advised to expedite sowing of wheat and other crops before the scheduled closure of the canals. Notably, farmers of tail-end villages had for the past more than 15 years been urging the state government to reconstruct canals in Abohar and Balluana constituencies to facilitate availability of water till the tail-end of the system. The state government had last year released Rs 25 crore to reconstruct about half-dozen sub-canals that had initially been constructed in 1982 on the initiative of then Lok Sabha Speaker Bal Ram Jakhar, but funds for the repair were awaited for a long time despite several breaches.