The Panjab, North-West Frontier Province, and KashmirDouie, James McCrone, Sir
History
The Panjab, North-West Frontier Province, and Kashmir
Douie, James McCrone, Sir
India -- Description and travel; Jammu and Kashmir (India); North-west Frontier Province (Pakistan); Punjab (India)
~Western Jamna Canal.~--Soon after the assumption of authority at Delhi in
1803 the question of the old Canal from the Jamna was taken up. The
Delhi Branch was reopened in 1819, and the Hansi Branch six years later.
In the famine year nearly 400,000 acres were irrigated. For more than
half a century that figure represented the irrigating capacity of the
canal. The English engineers in the main retained the faulty Moghal
alignment, and waterlogging of the worst description developed. The
effect on the health of the people was appalling. After long delay the
canal was remodelled. The result has been most satisfactory in every
way. In the last decade of the nineteenth century the Sirsa Branch and
the Nardak Distributary were added, to carry water to parts of the
Karnal and Hissar districts where any failure of the monsoon resulted in
widespread loss of crops. If a scheme to increase the supply can be
carried out, further extension in tracts now very liable to famine will
become possible. In the six years ending the interest earned exceeded 8
p.c.
~Upper Bari Doab Canal.~--The headworks of the Upper Bari Doab Canal are
above Madhopur near the point where the Ravi leaves the hills. The work
was started soon after annexation, but only finished in 1859. Irrigation
has grown from 90,000 acres in to 533,000 in, 861,000 in 1900-1, and
1,157,000 in. The later history of the canal consists mainly of great
extensions in the arid Lahore district, and the irrigation there is now
three-fifths of the whole. In parts of Amritsar, and markedly near the
city, waterlogging has become a grave evil, but remedial measures have
now been undertaken. The interest earned on the capital expenditure in
the six years ending averaged 11-1/2 p.c.
~Sirhind Canal.~--A quarter of a century passed after the Upper Bari Doab
Canal began working before the water of the Sutlej was used for
irrigation. The Sirhind Canal weir is at Rupar where the river emerges
from the Siwaliks. Patiala, Jind, and Nabha contributed to the cost, and
own three of the five branches. But the two British branches are
entitled to nearly two-thirds of the water, which is utilized in the
Ludhiana and Ferozepore districts and in the Faridkot State. The soil of
the tract commanded is for the most part a light sandy loam, and in
years of good rainfall it repays dry cultivation. The result is that the
area watered fluctuates largely. But in the six years ending the
interest earned averaged 7 p.c., and the power of expansion in a bad
year is a great boon to the peasantry.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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