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Ganges Canal

Coordinates: 29°46′N 78°12′E / 29.767°N 78.200°E / 29.767; 78.200
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For the canal system in Sri Ganganagar district of Rajasthan, see Ganges Canal (Rajasthan)
Photograph of an old bridge on the Ganga Canal (constructed before 1854 during East India Company rule in India). The photograph was taken from a moving car.

The Ganga Canal is a canal system that irrigates the Doab region between the Ganga River and the Yamuna River in India.

The canal is primarily an irrigation canal, although parts of it were also used for navigation, primarily for its construction materials. Separate navigation channels with lock gates were provided on this system for boats to negotiate falls. Originally constructed from 1842 to 1854, for an original head discharge of 6000 ft³/s. The Upper Ganga Canal has since been enlarged gradually for the present head discharge of 10,500 ft³/s (295 m³/s). The system consists of main canal of 272 miles and about 4000 miles long distribution channels. The canal system irrigates nearly 9,000 km² of fertile agricultural land in ten districts of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Today the canal is the source of agricultural prosperity in much of these states, and the irrigation departments of these states actively maintain the canal against a fee system charged from users.[1]

Structure

Photograph (1860) of the head works of the Ganga Canal in Haridwar, by Samuel Bourne.
Photograph (2008) of the head works of the Ganga Canal in Haridwar, taken from the opposite side.

The canal is administritatively divided into the Upper Ganga Canal from Haridwar to Aligarh, with some branches, and the Lower Ganga Canal which constitutes several branches below Aligarh.

Upper Ganga Canal

The Upper Ganga canal is the original Ganga Canal, which starts at the head works near Har ki Pauri at Haridwar, traverses Meerut and Bulandshahr and continues to Nanu in Aligarh district, where it bifurcates into the Kanpur and Etawah branches.

A highway running along the Upper Ganga canal has been proposed several times. In 2010, it was turned since it would "lead to uprooting of around 100,000 trees".[2] Also, the proposal by the Mayavati government was criticized as trying to subvert the environmental issues by splitting the proposal in five different parts.[2]

Lower Ganga Canal

A channel from a weir at Narora intersects the canal system 48 km downstream from Nanu, and continues past the Sengar River and Sersa River, past Shikohabad in Mainpuri district to become the Bhognipur branch which was opened in 1880. This branch, starting at village Jera in Mainpuri district, runs for 166 km to reach Kanpur. At kilometre 64 the Balrai escape carries excess water through a 6.4 km. channel through the ravines to discharge into the Yamuna. This branch has 386 km. of distributary channels.

The Bhognipur branch, together with the Kanpur and Etawah branches, is known as the Lower Ganga Canal. The old channels of the old Kanpur and Etawah branches between Nanu and the point of intersection by the channel from Narora, are known as "stumps", and are utilized only when the supply of water in the lower Ganga system runs low.[3] The main branch of the river passes Kanpur (behind IIT Kanpur[4]) before breaking into several branches. A branch of it terminates Kanpur Jal Sansthan which comes from behind J. K. Temple.

History

Watercolor (1863) titled, "The Ganga Canal, Roorkee, Saharanpur District (U.P.)." The canal was the brainchild of Sir Proby Cautley; construction began in 1840, and the canal was opened by Governor-General Lord Dalhousie in April 1854.
Photograph (2008) of an East India Company-era (1854) bridge on the Ganga Canal near Roorkee

An irrigation system was felt necessary after a disastrous famine in 1837-38 in which nearly ten million (one crore) rupees was spent on relief works, resulting in considerable loss of revenue to the British East India Company.

One of the moving forces behind the canal was Colonel Proby Cautley, who was confident that a 500-kilometre canal was feasible. There were many obstacles and objections to his project, mostly financial, but Cautley persevered and after spending six months walking and riding through the area taking measurements, he managed to persuade the British East India Company to sponsor the project.

Digging of the canal began in April 1842.[5] Cautley had to make his own bricks, brick kiln and mortar. Initially, he was opposed by the Hindu priests at Haridwar, who felt that the waters of the holy river Ganga would be imprisoned but Cautley pacified them by agreeing to leave a gap in the dam from where the water could flow unchecked. He further appeased the priests by undertaking the repair of bathing ghats along the river. He also inaugurated the dam by the worship of Lord Ganesh, the god of good beginnings.

The dam was faced with many complications- among them was the problem of the mountainous streams that threatened the canal. Near Roorkee, the land fell away sharply and Cautley had to build an aqueduct to carry the canal for half a kilometre. As a result, at Roorkee the canal is 25 metres higher than the original river.

When the canal formally opened on 8 April 1854,[5] its main channel was 348 miles (560 km) long, its branches 306 miles (492 km) long and the various tributaries over 3,000 miles (4,800 km) long. After irrigation was commenced in May 1855,[5] over 767,000 acres (3,100 km2) in 5,000 villages were irrigated.

In 1877 the whole canal system of the lower Doabs underwent radical alteration. The Lower Ganga Canal, with a feed from a channel from Narora, was constructed into the ghar tract of Etawah, and became the Bhognipur branch.

Around 1900, according to the Nuttall Encyclopedia of 1907, it had a total extent of 3,700 miles (6,000 km), of which 500 miles (800 km) were navigable.

  • The Ganga Canal.
    The Ganga Canal.
  • The same East India Company bridge as in the lead paragraph photographed from the other side.
    The same East India Company bridge as in the lead paragraph photographed from the other side.
  • An old EIC engineer's bungalow on the canal.
    An old EIC engineer's bungalow on the canal.
  • 150 year old locks on the canal.
    150 year old locks on the canal.

Further reading

  • Cautley, Proby Thomas (1864). Ganges canal. A disquisition on the heads of the Ganges of Jumna canals, North-western Provinces. London, Printed for Private circulation.

References

  1. ^ "UP Irrigation department, Irrigation rates".
  2. ^ a b "Uttar Pradesh denied permission for Upper Ganga Canal Expressway". sify.com. 3 August 2010. Retrieved 4 August 2010. quote: In his report, Chief Conservator Azam Zaidi mentioned that to subvert the process of getting approval from central government, the state government submitted the proposal in five parts so that ... the project come in preview of regional office for clearance without routing it through New Delhi.
  3. ^ "District Gazetter: Etawah (UP), Chapter IV: Agriculture and Irrigation". Describes the canal works in central UP under the fifth plan
  4. ^ http://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/~amit/other/iitk/canal.html
  5. ^ a b c Upper Ganga Canal Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 12, p. 138.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wood, James, ed. (1907). The Nuttall Encyclopædia. London and New York: Frederick Warne. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

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