The Ganga Canal of

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

(also called Gang Canal) is an irrigation system of canals laid down by Maharaja Ganga Singh in the present district of

Sri Ganganagar Sri Ganganagar is the northernmost city of the Indian state of Rajasthan, near the international border of India and Pakistan. It is the administrative headquarters of Sri Ganganagar district. It is named after Maharaja Shri Ganga Singh Bahad ...

in the early twentieth century. It is fed from the

Sutlej River The Sutlej River or the Satluj River is a major river in Asia, flowing through China, India and Pakistan, and is the longest of the five major rivers of the Punjab region. It is also known as ''Satadru''; and is the easternmost tributary of th ...

near

Firozpur Firozpur, (pronunciation: ɪroːzpʊr also known as Ferozepur, is a city on the banks of the Sutlej River in the Firozpur District of Punjab, India. After the Partition of India in 1947, it became a border town on the India–Pakistan bor ...

, Punjab, close to the India–Pakistan border, and passes through the Faridkot, Fazilka and Muktsar districts. Faridkot's Jhok Sarkari village lies on its path.

History

The Bikaner state was one of the areas most affected by the

Indian famine of 1899–1900 The Indian famine of 1899–1900 began with the failure of the Monsoon#Southwest monsoon, summer monsoons in 1899 over Western India, Western and Central India and, during the next year, affected an area of and a population of 59.5 million. Th ...

. In order to get rid of this problem permanently, in 1903 East india company obtained the services of A.W.E. Standley, chief engineer, who demonstrated the feasibility of the western area of the

Bikaner State Bikaner State was the princely state, Princely State in the north-western most part of the History of Bikaner, Rajputana province of imperial British India from 1818 to 1947. The founder of the state Rao Bika was a younger son of Rao ...

being brought under irrigation from the Satluj Waters. The plan of the Satluj Valley Project was drawn by then chief engineer of Punjab Mr. R. G. Kennedy, according to which the vast area of erstwhile Bikaner state could be brought under irrigation. Because of objections by the erstwhile Muslim State of Bahawalpur, the project got delayed and finally with intervention of then

viceroy of India The governor-general of India (1833 to 1950, from 1858 to 1947 the viceroy and governor-general of India, commonly shortened to viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom in their capacity as the Emperor of ...

Lord Curzon George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston (11 January 1859 – 20 March 1925), known as Lord Curzon (), was a British statesman, Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician, explorer and writer who served as Viceroy of India ...

, in 1906, a tripartite conference was held and an agreement was signed on 4 September 1920. The foundation stone of the Canal Head Works at Ferozepur was laid on 5 December 1925 and the work completed in 1927 by constructing 89 miles of lined canal. The opening ceremony was performed on 26 October 1927 by Lord Irwin, the then viceroy of India. Irrigated parts of then Bikaner State now came under the

Sri Ganganagar district Sri Ganganagar district is the northernmost district of Rajasthan state of India. History Named after Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner State, Bikaner, Sri Ganganagar district was part of Bikaner state. This was a mostly uninhabited region. T ...

and Hanumangarh district. The canal irrigates 303,000 hectares of land, roughly equivalent to that of the Upper Bari Doab Canal. The cost of whole project was Rupees 310.97 Lakhs upto 1943. Another 60 Lakhs were spent on development of Gang Colony and railways. After construction of the canal, many people from south Punjab migrated to this area, the state administration facilitated several facilities for them. With availability of water from canal, this area transformed into rich land and Ganganagar became the granary of Rajasthan. During the

Partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

, Sir

Cyril Radcliffe Cyril John Radcliffe, 1st Viscount Radcliffe, (30 March 1899 – 1 April 1977) was a British lawyer and Law Lord best known for his role in the Partition of India. He served as the first chancellor of the University of Warwick from its 1965 fou ...

, the chairman of the Punjab Boundary Commission, initially considered awarding the Ferozpur and Zira tehsils of the Ferozpur District to Pakistan. This would have put the headwaters of the Ganga Canal in the territory of Pakistan. Bikaner's prime minister K. M. Panikkar warned the Viceroy

Lord Mountbatten Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy), Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (born Prince Louis of Battenberg; 25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979), commonly known as Lord Mountbatten, was ...

that the Bikaner state would have no choice but to accede to Pakistan in the event of the headwaters going to Pakistan.

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

also wrote to the Viceroy stating that it would be "most dangerous" for the Ferozpur district to go to Pakistan for "strategic and irrigation reasons". Subsequently, Radcliffe removed the salient and awarded the entire Ferozpur district to India.

References

Bibliography

External links

* Gang Canal marked on OpenStreetMap
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Sri Ganganagar district Canals in Rajasthan Irrigation canals Canals opened in 1927 {{India-dam-stub

History

See also

References

Bibliography

External links