|
The Indira Gandhi Canal is one of the largest canal projects in India. It starts from the Harike Barrage at Firozpur, a few kilometers below the confluence of the Satluj and Beas rivers in the Indian state of Punjab and terminates in irrigation facilities in the Thar Desert in the north west of Rajasthan state. Previously known as the Rajasthan Canal, it was renamed the Indira Gandhi Canal in 1985 following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The canal consists of the Rajasthan feeder canal with the first in Punjab and Haryana state and a further in Rajasthan followed by the of the Rajasthan main canal, which is entirely within Rajasthan. The canal enters Haryana from Punjab near Lohgarh village then runs through the western part of the Sirsa district before entering Rajasthan near Kharakhera village in the Tibbi tehsil of the Hanumangarh district. The canal traverses seven districts of Rajasthan: Barmer, Bikaner, Churu, Hanumangarh, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, and Sriganganagar. == Design and Construction == The idea of bringing the waters from the Himalayan Rivers flowing through Punjab and into Pakistan was conceived by an hydraulic engineer, Kanwar Sain in the late 1940s who proposed that 2 million hectares of desert land in Bikaner and the northwest corner of Jaisalmer could be brought under irrigation from the stored waters of Punjab rivers. In 1957, Indus Water Treaty was signed between India and Pakistan which gave India the right to use waters of three rivers – Satluj, Beas and Ravi. The proposed Rajasthan Canal envisaged use of 7.6 million acre feet of water.〔Ramtanu Maitra: The Indira Gandhi Canal: greening the desert in India EIR Volume 14, Number 7, February 13, 1987〕 The initial plan was to build the canal in two stages, Stage I consisting of 204 km feeder canal from Harike barrage in Punjab. Stage I also included constructing distributary canal system of about 2950 km in length. The stage II involved construction of 256 km long main canal and distributary canal network of 3600 km. It was planned that the main canal will be 140 ft (42.5 m) wide at the top and 116 ft (35.3 m) wide at the bottom with water depth of 21 ft. (6.4 m). The canal was scheduled to be completed by 1971. The stage I could not be completed in time due to severe financial constraints, neglect and corruption. In 1970 the plan was revised and it was decided that the entire canal will be lined with concrete tiles. Five more lift schemes were added. Flow command of stage II was increased by 1,00,000 hectares. With increased requirements, the total length of main, feeder and distribution canals was about 9245 km. The stage I was completed in 1983 around 20 years behind the completion schedule 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Indira Gandhi Canal」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|