E-Paper
Water released into Madhya Ganga canal for testing
1.46 lakh hectare land will be irrigated through this second phase of Madhya Ganga Canal which will benefit over 4 lakh farmers in the three districts of Moradabad division.
Water was released from Bijnor barrage on Thursday to test the 57-km-long main Madhya Ganga Canal constructed to provide irrigation facility to more than 4 lakh farmers of Amroha, Sambhal and Moradabad districts of western UP.
The total length of the canal is 66.2 kms and water was released for testing its 57.2 km length on Thursday under the supervision of the senior officials and experts of the irrigation department.
Superintendent engineer of Madhya Ganga Canal (MGC) Anurag Aggarwal said that the canal will provide irrigation facilities to 12 blocks of Amroha, Sambhal and Moradabad districts, and 11 of them have been declared dark zone where water table is considerably low.
Aggarwal further said that testing was done in 57.2 Km stretch of the main canal while its total length is 66.2 Km as a railway overbridge is under construction at 58th km point of its route.
The bridge is expected to be completed by end of November this year and thereafter, water will be released in the entire canal.
Chief engineer, Madhya Ganga Canal, Awdhesh Kumar said that 1.46 lakh hectare land will be irrigated through this second phase of Madhya Ganga Canal which will benefit over 4 lakh farmers in the three districts of Moradabad division.
The construction of the canal started in 2007-2008 with a projected cost of ₹1,060 crore. It however spiralled to over 4,000 crore because of increase in compensation to farmers under new land acquisition policy.
Aggarwal asserted that the cost escalated because of revised rates of land under the new acquisition policy.
The officials claimed that the construction of minor escapes and other irrigation channels have also been completed to take the water of main canal into the fields of farmers and soon water will be released permanently for irrigation.
