The Uttar Pradesh government is set to meet the aspirations of about 15 lakh farmers in 168 villages of western UP with the completion of Madhya Ganga Canal Project this year. The project, which will irrigate about 1.47 lakh hectares of additional land in 12 blocks of these districts, has been overdue for more than a decade and a half. On completion, the project will facilitate irrigation of 71,000 hectares of land in Sambhal, 59,000 in Amroha and 16,500 hectares in Moradabad.

“The project will have far reaching impact as it will improve ground water level in blocks falling under ‘dark zone’ on the one hand and increase the acreage of kharif and rabi crops in acquired areas of the canal on the other,” a government spokesman said in a statement issued in Lucknow on Tuesday. “Of the 12 blocks to be covered, 11 fall in the dark zone. Canal water will improve the ground water level of dark zone blocks and increase irrigation capacity of tube wells. Thus, the income of farmers will increase with reduction in irrigation cost,” he said.

The original cost of the project, launched in 2007-08 was Rs 806.50 crore but due to delay in land acquisition and ensuring sufficient funds for the project by the previous regimes, its cost shot up. At present, the project’s revised cost is Rs 4,417.21 crore, more than five times compared to the initial estimated cost. This will be the first canal network under western command of the Irrigation department and would benefit both kharif and rabi crops and farmers engaged in its cultivation. A total of 1.46 lakh hectares of additional kharif crop will be irrigated under the project, including .79 hectares for paddy. It is noteworthy that this year the government has set a target of expanding the irrigation capacity by an additional 20 lakh hectares. In order to realise the larger goal, the Yogi Adityanath government is focusing on completing projects like Saryu Canal and Arjun Sahayak whose completion has been pending for years.