Ganges Canal
The Ganges Canal or Ganga Canal is a
The canal is primarily an irrigation canal, although parts of it were also used for navigation, primarily for its construction materials. Separate navigation channels with lock gates were provided on this system for boats to negotiate falls. Originally constructed from 1842 to 1854, for an original head discharge of 6000 ft³/s, the Upper Ganges Canal has since been enlarged gradually for the present head discharge of 10,500 ft³/s (295 m³/s). The system consists of main canal of 272 miles and about 4000 miles long distribution channels. The canal system irrigates nearly 9,000 km² of fertile agricultural land in ten districts of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Today the canal is the source of agricultural prosperity in much of these states, and the irrigation departments of these states actively maintain the canal against a fee system charged from users.
There are some small hydroelectric plants on the canal capable of generating about 33MW if running at full capacity these are at Nirgajini, Chitaura, Salawa, Bhola, Jani, Jauli and Dasna.[1][2]
Structure
The canal is administratively divided into the Upper Ganges Canal from Haridwar to Aligarh, with some branches, and the Lower Ganges Canal which constitutes several branches below Aligarh.
Upper Ganga Canal
The Upper Ganges canal is the important and the original Ganges Canal, which starts at the
Lower Ganga Canal
A channel from Chaudhary Charan Singh Ganga barrage at Narora (Bulandshahr district) intersects the canal system 48 km downstream from Nanau (Aligarh district), and continues past the Sengar River and Sersa River, past Shikohabad in Firozabad District to become the Bhognipur branch which was opened in 1880. This branch, starting at village Jera in Mainpuri district, runs for 166 km to reach Kanpur. At kilometre 64 the Balrai escape carries excess water through a 6.4 km. channel through the ravines to discharge into the Yamuna. This branch has 386 km. of distributary channels.
The Bhognipur branch, together with the Kanpur and Etawah branches, is known as the Lower Ganges Canal. The old channels of the old Kanpur and Etawah branches between Nanau and the point of intersection by the channel from Narora, are known as "stumps", and are utilized only when the supply of water in the lower Ganges system runs low.
History
An irrigation system was felt necessary after the disastrous
Digging of the canal began in April 1842.
In 1877 the whole canal system of the lower Doabs underwent radical alteration. The Lower Ganges Canal, with a feed from a channel from Narora, was constructed into the ghar tract of Etawah, and became the Bhognipur branch. Around 1900, according to the Nuttall Encyclopedia of 1907, it had a total extent of 3,700 miles (6,000 km), of which 500 miles (800 km) were navigable. Building of this canal also eventually led to the establishment of first engineering college in India,
-
The Ganges Canal.
-
The same East India Company bridge as in the lead paragraph photographed from the other side.
-
A water mill on the canal.
-
150-year-old locks on the canal.
Further reading
- Cautley, Proby T.(1860). Report of the Ganges Canal Works from their Commencement Until the Opening of the Canal in 1854. London: Smith, Elder.
- Cautley, Proby T. (1864). Ganges Canal: a disquisition on the heads of the Ganges and Jumna canals, North-Western Provinces, in reply to strictures by Major-General Sir Arthur Cotton. London.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
References
- ^ "UP Irrigation department, Irrigation charges 2014" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 June 2015.
- ^ "Webcite - UP Irrigation department, Irrigation charges 2014" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 June 2015.
- ^ "District Gazetter: Etawah (UP), Chapter IV: Agriculture and Irrigation". Describes the canal works in central UP under the fifth plan
- ^ a b c Upper Ganges Canal Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 12, p. 138.
- ^ "History, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee". IIT Roorkee Website. IIT Roorkee. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
- OL 7157290M
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wood, James, ed. (1907). The Nuttall Encyclopædia. London and New York: Frederick Warne. {{cite encyclopedia}}
: Missing or empty |title=
(help)