The Punjab Government has chalked out a novel plan to provide irrigation facility from canal water to the farmers of the state under Kandi Canal Project. For the purpose, a total of 15 dams would be constructed at a cost of Rs 750 crore and the completion target has been set at five years.
“As per the plan, Hoshiarpur would see construction of seven dams while four dams would be constructed in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, two in Pathankot and one in SAS Nagar (Mohali) and each dam would cost Rs50 crore to the State Exchequer,” said the State Irrigation Minister Sharanjit Singh Dhillon.
He said that the state government is fully committed to provide the facility of irrigation from canal water to the farmers of the state. He expressed hope that the potential threat to the Kandi area from floods would get reduced to a great extent with the coming up of these dams.
Divulging other schemes, the Minister informed that the water channels on the sides of Kandi area-I from Talwara to Hoshiarpur (60 Kilometres) and Kandi area-II from Hoshiarpur to Balachaur (70 Kilometres) are being upgraded at a cost of Rs four crore. He said that the projects would be completed by March 2016.
laying stress on channelizing the canal water, the Minister said that earlier the area under irrigation on Kandi area was only 13000 hectare whereas after the completion of the projects, the concerned areas under irrigation would increase to 24000 hectares.