Punjab Government has decided to complete the renovation of Bist Doab canal by June 30. The decision was taken by State Irrigation Minister Sharanjit Singh Dhillon on Wednesday while conducting a review meeting with the state Forest Minister Chunni lal Bhagat to figure out some complications concerning the Bist Doab canal project.
The Forest Minister has instructed his departmental officials to sort out the problems at the earliest.
Dhillon, giving instructions to the officials of Irrigation Department, made it clear that the renovation work of Bist Doab canal should be completed by June 30 so that water for irrigational purposes be provided to the farmers in accordance with the actual capacity of canal.
During the course of a review meeting, Dhillon said that this project initiated in 1954 would be renovated at a cost of Rs 20 crore.
He also divulged that at present, the water carrying capacity of the canal is 950 cusecs but after renovation this would increase to 1450 cusecs and the irrigational prowess would increase from 35000 acres at present to two lakh acres.
Dhillon said that another command area project of Rs 560 crore cost is being executed separately. All the water channels would be replaced by the underground pipes and the total length of Bist Doab project is 801 kilometres and it has two branches, 14 distributaries and 39 minors.
Elaborating more, Dhillon said that it was also decided to construct stairs on the embankments ensure no difficulty to the people performing chhatt pooja and other religious rituals from whichever city the canal passes.