The Ganga Canal of

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...

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

Bikaner Bikaner () is a city in the northwest of the state of Rajasthan, India. It is located northwest of the state capital, Jaipur. Bikaner city is the administrative headquarters of Bikaner District and Bikaner division. Formerly the capital of ...

in his princely state in the present district of Sri Ganganagar in the early twentieth century. It is fed from the Sutlej River near

Firozpur Firozpur, also known as Ferozepur, is a city on the banks of the Sutlej River in Firozpur District, Punjab, India. After the partition of India in 1947, it became a border town on the India–Pakistan border with memorials to soldiers who ...

, Punjab, close to the India–Pakistan border, and passes through the Faridkot and

Muktsar district Sri Muktsar Sahib district, colloquially known by the city's former name Muktsar; is one of the 23 districts in the Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab. The city was renamed from Muktsar to Sri Muktsar Sahib. The district itself was historical ...

s. 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 summer monsoons in 1899 over Western and Central India and, during the next year, affected an area of and a population of 59.5 million. The famine was acute in the Central Provinc ...

. In order to get rid of this problem permanently, in 1903 Maharaja Ganga Singh 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 a princely state in the Rajputana from 1465 to 1947. The founder of the state, Rao Bika, was the eldest son of Rao Jodha, ruler of Jodhpur. Rao Bika chose to build his own kingdom instead of inheriting his father' ...

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 Bahawalpur (Urdu, skr, ) was a princely state of British India, and later Dominion of Pakistan, that was a part of the Punjab States Agency. It existed as an autonomous state, within Pakistan from 1947 to 1955, when it was dissolved and merge ...

, the project got delayed and finally with intervention of then

viceroy of India The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, 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 and after Indian independence in 19 ...

Lord Curzon George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, (11 January 1859 – 20 March 1925), styled Lord Curzon of Kedleston between 1898 and 1911 and then Earl Curzon of Kedleston between 1911 and 1921, was a British Conservative statesman ...

, 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 Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, (16 April 1881 – 23 December 1959), known as The Lord Irwin from 1925 until 1934 and The Viscount Halifax from 1934 until 1944, was a senior British Conservative politician of the 19 ...

, 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 in western India. History Named after Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner, Sri Ganganagar district was part of Bikaner state. This was a mostly uninhabited region. The his ...

and

Hanumangarh district Hanumangarh district is a district in the state of Rajasthan in India. The city of Hanumangarh is the district headquarters and its largest city. District profile The district is located in the extreme north of Rajasthan. It has an area of 12 ...

. The canal irrigates 303,000 hectares of land, roughly equivalent to that of the

Upper Bari Doab Canal Madhopur Headworks is a barrage on the Ravi River, just 14km from Pathankot city in Pathankot district in the Indian state of Punjab. It is located on the border with Jammu and Kashmir. The Upper Bari Doab Canal (UBDC) off-taking from Madhopur ir ...

. The cost of whole project was Rupees 310.97 Laksh 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, 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 foundat ...

, the chairman of the

Punjab Boundary Commission Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

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

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

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