Expedite Ravi Canal Works

The completion of the Shahpur Kandi barrage and the release of Ravi water into the Main Ravi Canal in May 2026 after more than four decades is a milestone that the people of the Jammu division have every reason to celebrate. Conceived in 1995 and stalled for years by interstate wrangling and bureaucratic inertia, the project has finally delivered. Water in the channels is long-overdue justice for the Kandi belt, which stretches across Hiranagar, Samba, and Vijaypur and has long been parched despite its proximity to a major river.

The immediate dividends are already visible. Targeted strengthening of the most vulnerable stretches under the UT Capex budget has allowed water to travel where it once could not. For the first time, Ravi water from the Main Ravi Canal is reaching the Ujh River, augmenting the supply to the canal that draws from the Ujh Barrage. Gravity-fed irrigation is replacing expensive lift schemes, with projected monthly savings of Rs 75 lakh in electricity costs. Farmers who lived at the mercy of erratic monsoons can approach the Kharif season with far greater confidence. The larger promise is considerable: an irrigation potential of more than 32,000 hectares across Kathua and Samba and 206 megawatts of hydropower.

Yet celebration must not blur into complacency. The uncomfortable truth is that the canal, not the dam, is now the limiting factor. Only around 400 cusecs are being released into the Main Ravi Canal against 1,150 cusecs available, barely a third. The reason is plain: the deteriorated reaches of an ageing canal and its distribution network cannot safely convey more. Forcing higher discharge through them would risk breaches that endanger the very fields the water is meant to serve. Caution is therefore prudent, but it also means that most of the water available to Jammu and Kashmir cannot yet be put to use.

The improvement so far rests on patchwork. About Rs 5.44 crore was spent in 2025-26 on the Basantpur-Ujh Barrage reach, and a further Rs 17.96 crore has been approved this year. These works are worthwhile, but by design they secure the most vulnerable points rather than modernise the system. The consequences fall hardest on the tail end. Ramgarh, for instance, receives water for just two days a week under the approved schedule, and officials themselves concede that this will change only when the canal's carrying capacity improves. Farmers at the far end, who have waited longest, will continue to receive only limited benefit.

The lasting remedy is the revised Rs 534 crore Detailed Project Report for improving and strengthening the Main Ravi Canal and its distribution network. Even approval will not bring instant relief. The Irrigation and Flood Control Department projects nearly two years for the works, and that clock starts only once funds are released. Shahpur Kandi's full benefit remains distant, and each month lost to procedural delay pushes it further away. An outlay of this size is beyond the means of the UT's cash-strapped budget, which can sustain only piecemeal repairs. The Centre, to its credit, has been generous towards J&K's development and its mega projects, which offers sound grounds for optimism. But optimism is not a strategy. The DPR must be pursued with relentless purpose by every stakeholder: the Administration, the concerned departments, elected representatives and farmers' bodies. Queries from the Central Water Commission should be answered promptly. Phased release of funds, allowing work on priority reaches to begin without waiting for the entire sanction, deserves serious consideration.

There is also a wider strategic context. With the IWT in abeyance, India has both the compulsion and the opportunity to ensure that its entitled river waters are put to productive use rather than flowing unutilised across the border. Conveying Ravi's waters efficiently to the last field is central to that goal. Shahpur Kandi has shown that patience can eventually be rewarded. Now it is urgency that is required. The dam is complete, and the water is available, but an old canal stands between the farmer at the tail end and the harvest that water can bring. Timing is crucial. The sooner the DPR is cleared and the funds released, the sooner the benefits will be reaped.