India to rebuild canals, dig new ones to tap into Indus

Hindustan Times

16-05-2025

India will begin sprucing up a network of Indus canals, beginning with the Kathua, New Partap and Ranbir channels for the first time since they were built over a century ago as well as sanction new ones to increase the country's nearly stagnant net-irrigated area, officials aware of the matter said.
The tasks will be carried out unfettered by the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan, which India suspended last month after terrorists killed 26 people in Pahalgam, a tourism hub in Kashmir. The treaty didn't allow or restricted India's ability to revamp, expand or create new water channels from the Indus basin rivers, despite a growing population, according to the Union government.
The rebuilding and expansion of canals linked to Indus rivers were prioritised immediately after the treaty was paused by India on April 23, although roadmaps were routinely being worked on by various departments, including the flood control and irrigation wing of the J&K government, one official said.
India is preparing to begin desilting work in the Ranbir, New Partap, Ranjan, Tawi Lift, Paragwal, Kathua Canal and Ravi canals, which will be done in phases by the Jammu and Kashmir government under technical guidance of the Centre, a second official said.
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Then, expansion of the Kathua, New Partap and Ranbir channels will take place after projects are sanctioned, HT has learnt but it is as yet unclear which one will be taken up first.
'The need to expand these canals has been acutely felt for decades. The main aim is to increase their (water) carrying capacity to increase the net irrigation cover,' the second official said.
An expansion of canals on the Indus rivers will help to reduce reliance on an increasingly unpredictable summer monsoon, which waters nearly 60% of the country's net-sown area.
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'The Jammu region is favourable for year-round agriculture but water crises have always hampered farming as availability is very limited. Being in the northernmost part of the country, the monsoon arrives very late in J&K and retreats within a few weeks unlike in the hinterland,' said Abhay Singh, a federal horticulture official.
The so-called Rawi Tawi Irrigation Complex comprises the Ravi and the Tawi Lift canal. In the Jammu division, canals provide over 90% of the total irrigation water: Ranbir caters to Jammu and Partap to Akhnoor.
India is also set to expedite work on several proposed dams in the Kashmir region. These include Kishenganga, Ratle, Miyar Nallah, Lower Kalnai and Pakal Dul power projects aside from the Tulbul navigation project.
J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah has pushed for the completion of the Tulbul barrage on Wullar lake, with the IWT being suspended.
Blueprints to expand the Ranbir canal, a major carriage built in 1905, was already being worked on but they were mostly an 'exercise on paper' because implementation was not possible due to 'heavy restrictions imposed by the Indus treaty', the first official said, reiterating India's position that the agreement had become obsolete given that natural changes in the Indus system had reduced India's share and population had increased manifold.
'The length of Ranbir canal is about 60 km, which was built according to needs of the previous century and has remained stuck there despite growing agricultural water demand,' the official cited in the first instance said.
The Partap channels are equally 'high priority', a third person who briefed HT said. The Old Partap canal used to open on the right bank of Chenab near a village called Devipur, which lies about 20 km downstream of the head of New Partap channel.
'The Old Partap Canal was built in 1906 and meant to cater to a command area of about just 8000 hectares of cultivable land from Akhnoor town to Manawar Tawi in Chhamb sector of Akhnoor,' the third official said. Command area refers to the total acreage of land that can be irrigated by fully utilising a canal system.
The New Partap canal's length is about 34 km, with utilisation of no more than 9030 hectares, which is grossly inadequate, the official said. Once a major source of surface water irrigation, it catered to the lush Kandi belt of Jammu district, according to the J&K irrigation department. The water passage was designed for a net irrigated area of 16500 hectares but officials say restrictions on maintenance work, expansion and drawing rights have relegated it to a minor irrigation source.
Under the six-decade-old Indus Water Treaty, the Ranbir canal can carry no more than 1000 cusecs for irrigation, 250 cusecs for hydropower besides some withdrawal allowance for silt extraction, to be carried out within a defined window.
'The proposed expansion of these canals will be done to allow full utilisation of irrigation potential and expand their command areas,' the third official cited above said.
Pakistan has objected to India's suspension of the treaty and it has said any Indian attempt to divert or restrict water downstream in the neighbouring country would be 'considered an act of war'.
On its part, India has clarified that despite the success of Operation Sindoor, India's strike against terror hubs and military installations in Pakistan, IWT will remain suspended, citing issues with the 65-year old agreement, including rapid strides in dam technologies in the decades since, and the climate crisis, which has reduced flow to the eastern tributaries of the Indus, water from which was available to India under the treaty.