Durgavati Canal also known as Kudra Wier Canal or Kudra Project Canal, is a canal located in

Kaimur District Kaimur district is one of the 38 districts of Bihar, India. The district headquarters are at Bhabua. Before 1991, it was part of Rohtas District. Till 1764 the region (Kaimur district) was a part of Ghazipur District and was a part of Kamsaar ...

in Bihar (India). During the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

, after Punjab and Agra and

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand (, ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2007), is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. The state is bordered by Himachal Pradesh to the n ...

, the government focused on the regions of

Buxar Buxar is a nagar parishad city in the state of Bihar, India, sharing border with Balia and Ghazipur district of Uttar Pradesh. It is the headquarters of the eponymous Buxar district, as well as the headquarters of the community development ...

, Gazipur and Kaimur, which grew the most crops in Bihar, and

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

. The British and Indian governments built many canals in the 1870s-1950s to increase the irrigation of these regions, especially the

pargana Pargana or parganah, also spelt pergunnah, equivalent to Mohallah as a subunit of Subah (Suba), was a type of former administrative division in the Indian subcontinent during the time of the Delhi Sultanate, Mughal and British Colonial empire ...

s of

Kamsar Kamsar is a port city in Guinea, West Africa. It is also a Sub-prefectures of Guinea, Sub-prefecture of Guinea. It is located on the mouth of the Nunez River. Port Kamsar handles significant part of the world's bauxite production. Ships callin ...

, Zamania, Sherpur, Ramgarh, Durgawati, Chainpur, Bhabua, Kudra, Kochas, Buxar and Chausa. In these regions mostly Kamsaar Raj and later Chainpur estate and Jagdishpur estate existed. These places also (excluding Buxar) made up the pargana of the

Nawab Nawab is a royal title indicating a ruler, often of a South Asian state, in many ways comparable to the Western title of Prince. The relationship of a Nawab to the Emperor of India has been compared to that of the Kingdom of Saxony, Kings of ...

of Ghazipur. These regions had 20 rivers, so irrigation was easy and many canals and tributaries were built to support and improve agriculture there.

Description

The project comprises an earthen dam on the River Durgawati ( Karmanasha basin), joining Shergarh Hills on the right and Rajdeo Hills on the left. The ultimate irrigation potential of the project is 36,317 hectares. It has a width of 185 ft. The command area of this project is spread through five blocks of Kaimur and

Rohtas district Rohtas District is one of the thirty-eight districts of Bihar States and territories of India, state, India. It came into existence when Shahabad district, Shahabad District was bifurcated into Bhojpur & Rohtas in 1972. Administrative headquart ...

s. A feeder outlet in the spillway of the dam releases water to stabilize irrigation due to an old scheme viz. Kudra Weir Scheme. The command of Kudra Weir scheme (16,020 ha) has now been internalized under the command of Durgawati Reservoir Project ( 16,020 + 20,297 ha = 36,317 ha). Kudra weir project (Durgavati canal) construction began in the year 1954-55 and was completed in 1964–65. The Kudra weir and distribution system was remodelled and completed in the year 2006, in order to make available the storage of Duravati reservoir. The Kudra weir on Durgawati river downstream of the dam is 59.741 meters long and its height above river bed level is 2.286 meter and the canal taking off from the weir is 34.778 km long with head discharge capacity of 9.34 cumec. The CCA is 21,100 hectare and potential is 16,020 hectare. The Durgawati dam is an earthen dam whose length is 1616 meter and the height is 46.66 meter. Two canals take off from the dam. the left bank canal is 25.27 km and head discharge capacity is 6.46 cumec. The right bank main canal is 32.07 km with head discharge capacity of 13.88 cumec. The CCA from these canal system is 17,890 hectare and potential is 20,297 hectare. The project is receiving CLA under AIBP and so far irrigation potential of 3300 hectare has been created under this project, other than that of from existing Kudra Weir. The project has received investment clearance of Planning Commission in the year 2000 for an estimated cost of Rs 231.41 crore (1998 price level).

References

{{reflist Canals in India Kaimur district