As the sun dips behind a stand of trees, the cracked cement lining of the irrigation distributary from ‘Bari Brahmana’ glows ghostly in the fading evening light. Once envisioned as a lifeline for hundreds of acres of arid & Kandi areas encompassing villages like ‘Rahya-sujani’ right up till ‘Gurha Salathia’ of Jammu division this irrigation system is now a dried up ditch, overrun by weeds and silt –no longer carrying hope , only a deafening silence.
This stark contrast paints a disturbing image—where an essential irrigation infra has all but been abandoned to its fate. Such a condition doesn’t happen overnight. It’s the result of years of administrative apathy, dismal upkeep and unattended civil works.
Welcome to yet another expose of monumental proportions that impinges not only on the UT of J&K, but also on its denizens who have taken to absorbing pain and misery in their stride for no fault of theirs. Having taken off from Pune where I have settled down after donning & hanging my uniform for 32 long years to my home state J&K, for a personal work it was an act of serendipity when I met my ex Botany professor (retired IFS officer) Rajeshwar Singh Jasrotia at Jammu.
It was on his goading that we both embarked upon dismantling some unholy truths and connivance of the local administration in the area of irrigation system in the Kandi belt of Samba district. We both drove from Jammu taking the NH 1A and after crossing Bari Brahmana veered off the NH and took a left turn towards road leading to the famous village ‘Rahya-Sujani’ which has the unique distinction of producing some great Generals for the Indian army.
All along the black topped tarmac road lined are some good bungalows and farm lands with a sprinkling of few mango orchards. While driving, Mr Jasrotia pointed to me a rough alignment of a huge iron pipe line that seemed to be supported on cement blocks with prominent ‘U’ cuts to help fit in the curvature of the pipe line.
We both kept on driving keeping the rough alignment of the pipe line in our sights, and stopped at a prominent place that seemed to be having a crossing over underneath the road. The sheer apathy visible on the cracked walls of the distributary, dense undergrowth, a rusted iron gate that controlled and weeded out large objects from slipping past it into the distributary was overwhelming to both of us equally in sight and sensibility.
Heavily silted floor, banked with at least 15 to 30 cms of accumulated refuse was a living testimony to years of professional neglect by the irrigation department bordering on criminality. Tail end farmers of village ‘Rahya-Sujani’ when spoken to at random by both self and Mr Jasrotia sighed with the refrain—‘Fields once lush with paddy now lie fallow. We have resorted to costly tube wells or abandoned the land’. A tragedy both human and economic.
The irrigation channel / distributary that I am referring to in this write up, seems to me part of the ‘Lift irrigation system’ and must be lifting water from the main ‘Ranbir Canal Network’ which originates from the ‘Chenab’ river near Akhnoor and passes through Bari Brahmna, covering villages including ‘Rahya Sujani’, ultimately irrigating large swaths of land in both Jammu & Samba districts.
Since a typical ‘lift irrigation system’ comprises of a multitude of means to lift water from a lower altitude to a higher terrain, the pathetic sight of rusted iron pipes, defunct sump wells, irrigation channels lined with peeled off cement , dry beds full of weeds etc was enough to tell me that this lift irrigation system had fallen on bad times.
The ‘Balole syphon’ located at kilometer RD 34400, services water for areas including Suchetgarh and ‘Rahya Sujani’ via the Ranbir canal. I suppose a sizable amount of money was spent few years back as part of a temporary repairs on this Balole Syphon. The ‘Balole syphon’ is key to maintaining continuous water flow from Bari Brahmana to places like Rahya-Sujani etc.
But what about numerous small irrigation channels or distributaries that branch out from the main canal at Bari Brahmana, the like of which I am referring to? It is these small distributaries which branch off from major canals that are the virtual life lines of farmers and the hopes of irrigating their parched fields. The major canals by virtue of their size & the quantity of water they carry within themselves are the lynchpins on whose health depends the ‘end-mile irrigators’ i.e. the irrigation channels or distributaries. If these ‘end-mile irrigators’ are themselves in shambles of what use are the major canals and their importance?
It will be worth mentioning over here that in Jammu division alone, over 94% of irrigated land depends upon on canal networks, making their deterioration all the more concerning. Broken infra, old pumps, rusted water pipe lines, insufficient or rather mismanaged funding; poor maintenance further accentuates an already deplorable condition of taking the irrigation concept in this kandi belt to its logical fruition.
It would be worth mentioning over here that way back in 2022, the advisor to Lt Governor, Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar had toured the canal area and reviewed the progress urging fast track repairs. I am not aware if he had taken the pains of visiting a single irrigation distributary that branches off from this main canal at Bari Brahmana. Had he done so, I am quite sanguine that a positive after effect would have been reflective on the state of affairs of these ‘end-mile irrigators’ cum lift irrigation systems.
Though a typical lift irrigation system consists of dedicated water source (river, canal, lake, pond etc), an intake structure that includes inlet well or sump well, sedimentation basin (optional) to reduce silt entering the system, a pumping unit with components as electric motor, diesel engine etc , as also a delivery chamber which acts as a balancing tank or storage at the upper level of water delivery and a host of field distribution methods like iron water pipes and off course irrigation channels, we both have had enough time only to take a look only on the field distribution networks.
But this was enough for us to draw conclusion that rest of the major components of the LIS (Lift irrigation) must be in doldrums as had been the field distribution networks that we had laid our eyes upon. Though I had come all the way from Pune to Jammu for my personal work, here I found myself embroiled in a task that was supposed to be done by the local Jammuites.
The above apathy made me curious enough to have a look-see at the state of affairs of irrigation canals in my own ancestral area of Ghagwal. I was in for an equal shock when few days later on my visit to our ancestral land I found to my chagrin the hundred year’s old ‘Pratap canal’ in more deplorable state than what I had imagined. The ‘Pratap canal’ of my younger days was no more visible now. It was matted with tons and tons of weed, trash and the ilk with just no sign of water in it. Built as a ‘state welfare’ during HH Maharaja Pratap Singh’s time to tide over recurring bouts of famine, today’s Pratap canal must be ruing its fate.
As if this is not enough what is the much publicized ‘Kandi water shed programme’ of Jammu & Kashmir doing in this regard? Envisaged as focusing on sustainable development and conservation of the Kandi belt through its ‘Integrated watershed management programme’ (IWMP), the KWMP (Kandi watershed management programme) had these lift irrigation systems too in its ambit.
Accountability –who failed whom? Host of official paraphernalia to include local authorities, irrigation & flood control department & finally political representatives of the areas in question ought to have that much of moral fiber to come forward and own up their mistakes as well as apologize to the local population for taking them on a wild goose chase and delivering a big ‘NO’.
What is now the call of action in such a dire situation? Following is the need of the hour without much ado:
- De-silting and de-weeding by both manual and mechanized clearing to restore design, depth and width of the canal must be done on a war footing.
- Repair & relining of the irrigation channel with patches having cracks to be repaired with RCC/ BRICK lined.
- Clearance of all encroachments including removal of plants along canal banks.
- Water testing to have an assessment of flow adequacy post –repair to check for seepage.
- Regular maintenance plan –biannual inspection and cleaning.
This restoration work should be treated as urgent before the full onslaught of monsoon hits the area under discussion in this write up. Though I have a host of other suggestions for the irrigation department to get their act together, space doesn’t allow me that leeway in this column of mine. I could have taken recourse to filing an RTI with the relevant authorities, but then aim of getting this piece of action closer to the readers wouldn’t have been possible except through the print media. Whereas RTI is only perused by a select group of people.
I treat this article of mine as part of ‘Investigative journalism’ with active support from my ex Botany professor Rajeshwar Singh Jasrotia (IFS) retired. To have an inbuilt objectivity to this whole action I have put real-time photos taken by me of this defunct irrigation system when we both happened to go on ground last month.
The people of Jammu should remain eternally grateful to their late Maharajas for having built a host of canals, irrigation channels, lift irrigation systems etc for their parched land which if left to their fate would have invited famines after famines to no end. Has the present dispensation been sanguine enough to take all these points in their professional stride and come out better for themselves and for the masses as such? Readers it’s you who have to decide.
(The writer is a retired army officer and a regular scribe of Rising Kashmir. He can be approached on his email—[email protected])
