The Government of Rajasthan is doing everything to transform Rajasthan into a beautiful state for the prosperity of Tourism Industry of Rajasthan. Now, the Rajasthan Government has proposed a new plan. It has planned a major renovation of the Indira Gandhi Nahar Project (IGNP). It is the largest canal system in the country. It is for the first time in the 60 year history of India that a renovation program of such huge budget has been planned. The proposed investment for the scheme is Rs. 3264 crores. The canal provides water for a large portion of Western Rajasthan and thus, the renovation is aimed at reducing the seepage and for the optimum utilization of water in a total of seven districts of western Rajasthan.
The canal was constructed in 1958 and is in a very bad shape right now. A lot of water is wasted every day due to seepage and it is badly in need of renovation. “Except some repair work no renovation of the canal has been undertaken after its construction over five decades back. Because of that a lot of water is wasted due to seepage,” said by Additional chief secretary Water Resources O P Saini.
If the canal is maintained well, its water could be used very efficiently for the purpose of irrigation. With the complete of renovation as planned, the official Cultural Command Area (CCA) of the canal is expected to rise by 1.80 lakh hectares in these seven districts naming, Sri Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Churu, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Barmer districts.
This proposal has been sent to the Central Water Commission and the Department of Economic Affairs along with the plan for the complete restructuring of the canal system and realignment of the main canal and branches. After renovation, the water will reach the farmers through the internal pipelines and then the farmers would just have to install sprinklers for the irrigation of their lands. It is also proposed that the sprinklers would be subsidized by the Agriculture Department.
