Early Times Report
Jammu, Apr 3: Although Principal Secretary, ARI & Trainings, Ashok Kumar Parmar, today visited Shahpur Kandi Dam Project and took stock of works being executed there, the completion of this dream project is still a distant dream.
Almost two years have passed after the foundation stone of this dream project was laid after the signing of the fresh agreement with Punjab. It was announced in April 2021 that the project will become functional by November 2022. The project is being constructed on the river Ravi, 11 kilometres downstream of the Ranjit Sagar Dam and eight kilometers upstream of Madhopur in Punjab's Pathankot district.
When the foundation stone was laid, it rekindled a ray of hope among farmers of the Samba and Kathua districts of Jammu and Kashmir as over 32,000 hectares of barren land of the Kandi belt will turn fertile after the completion of the project.
It will also provide irrigation facilities to over 5,000 hectares of land in the Pathankot district of the neighbouring Punjab. While taking first-hand appraisal of ongoing works, Principal Secretary was informed by Executive Engineer RTIC Kathua that construction of the Head Regulator and Aqua Duct on the Jammu Kashmir side of the project is going on in full swing wherein 13 gates, out of 22, have been completed so far.
He was further informed that lining work on 1378 meter span Ravi canal is also going on in full swing which on completion will feed around 32 thousand hectares of Agriculture land on Jammu and Kashmir side and prove to be a boon for farmers of Kandi belt of Kathua and Samba districts.
J&K and Punjab had signed a bilateral agreement on January 20, 1979 on sharing water of the river Ravi. Asper the bilateral agreement, the J&K will get 1,150 cusecs of water by constructing a canal from Satwain to Basantpur. The Punjab government was to construct the Shahpur-Kandi barrage, which was scrapped in 2004.
In June 2015, the then Chief Minister, late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had sought the intervention of the Union Government to solve the issue of completion of the Shahpur Kandi canal project with Punjab.
After decades of animosity, J&K and Punjab governments had signed a fresh pact on Shahpur Kandi project on March 3, 2017. As per this new pact, J&K is going to get 20 per cent electricity and 1150 cusecs water from the project.
J&K is confronting a food-grain deficit and the project is going to enhance agricultural production in the Kandi belt. J&K, which is facing a huge power deficit, may get relief after the implementation of the project. |
