Water level in River Chenab, all major canals depletes drastically
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Oct 7: The prolonged dry-spell caused by early withdrawal of monsoon has landed thousands of farmers of Jammu in crisis as in the absence of rains the water level of River Chenab and all the major canals, which provide irrigation facility to vast agricultural land, has depleted drastically. The more worrying aspect is that Indian Meteorological Department doesn’t see any immediate change in the prevailing weather conditions at least for another 10-15 days.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that this year the monsoon withdrew from Jammu and Kashmir on September 2, 2017—–16 days prior to the normal withdrawal timing thereby leading to severe deficit of the rainfall, which otherwise was necessary for crops particularly world famous Basmati grown in border areas of Jammu.
The impact caused by early withdrawal of monsoon can be gauged from the fact that generally the water level of River Chenab during September-October remains 22 feet to 23 feet at Akhnoor but this year the water level has depleted considerably to 16 feet during this period.
Since all the four major canals—Ranbir Canal, New Pratap Canal, Ranjan Canal and Pargwal Canal, which provide irrigation facilities to the entire agricultural land in Jammu, get water from River Chenab the depletion of water level in the river has also led to unprecedented low level of water discharge in these canals.
“The Irrigation Department can lift water in these canals from Chenab only when the water level remains at 12 feet or more as such only 4 feet of water is presently being diverted to these four canals thereby creating acute scarcity of water for agricultural activities”, sources further said while disclosing that against normally 1000 cubic feet of water per second at present only 500 cubic feet of water is being lifted from Chenab to these canals.
They further said, “those farmers who are dependent upon Ranbir Canal for irrigation are the worst affected as command area of this canal is much more than that of other three canals”, adding “Ranbir Canal helps in irrigating 38608 hectares of agricultural land and due to 50% flow of water over 19000 hectares of land is without water at present”.
When contacted, Chief Engineer Irrigation and Flood Control P N Bali confirmed unprecedented low level of water in River Chenab and subsequently in four major canals, which are considered as lifeline for the farmers. “We cannot say as to after how many years we are facing this situation but it is a fact that drastic decline in water level is leaving adverse impact on the farmers”, he added.
“No-doubt drastic reduction in water in Ranbir Canal has left impact on all those crops which are grown in this season but the world famous Basmati is the worst sufferer”, said Dr Mohinder Singh, Chief of Agro-Meteorological Division of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology-Jammu (SKUAST-J) when contacted.
“Adequate quantity of water is must for the farmers these days and acute shortage leaves adverse impact on the crop at reproductive phase”, he said in response to a question, adding “had there been complete spell of monsoon the farmers would have not been facing the prevailing situation”.
The more worrying aspect is that Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) doesn’t see any immediate change in the prevailing weather conditions at least for another 10-15 days.
“The monsoon has withdrawn in advance as such there is prolonged dry-spell in entire Jammu and Kashmir”, said Dr Sonam Lotus, Director IMD Srinagar, adding “the prevailing situation will continue for 10-15 days as no weather system is developing at present”.
Responding to a question, he said, “there are bleak chances of any western disturbance at least during the current month”. “Generally period from second week of September till third week of October remains dry but this year early withdrawal of monsoon has created problem particularly for the farmers”, the IMD Director added.
When contacted, Chief Engineer, Public Health Engineering Department, Ashok Gandotra said, “though water flow in River Tawi has also declined considerably but we have constructed channels so that sufficient water is diverted towards intake of the filtration plants and there is no further shortfall in the water supply”.
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