Punjab Water Resources, Soil and Water Conservation and Mining & Geology Minister Barinder Kumar Goyal on Tuesday announced that the Punjab Government is committed to ensuring 100 percent supply of canal water at the tail-end farms for irrigation and this task would be accomplished shortly.
While inaugurating a series of rejuvenation of Kandi canal’s irrigation infrastructure projects completed at a cost of nearly Rs.123 crore here at village Datarpur and Ghogra, the Minister Barinder Kumar Goyal said that Kandi Canal would provide a major boost to irrigation facilities to farmers in Hoshiarpur and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar districts.
He said the completion of Kandi Canal projects would facilities nearly 1.35 lakh acres of agricultural land spread across 450 villages. He described this development as a historic achievement by the government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann.
The Minister, who inaugurated the Shah Nehar Feeder Project and the Shah Nehar Canal System, and projects related to the Ghogra distributary here, said it was the first time in Punjab's history that 86 percent of available canal water was being utilized for irrigation, with water now reaching the tail-end villages.
He pointed out that the earlier governments had neglected canal infrastructure, completely resulted in only 26 percent utilization of canal water and caused severe hardship to farmers. Accompanied byMLAs Karamvir Singh Ghuman and Jasbir Singh Raja Gill, the Minister said that 22 distributaries under the Shah Nehar system were in a worst condition which deprived farmers of adequate irrigation.
To address the issue, the government undertook concrete lining of distributaries and watercourses at a cost exceeding Rs 78 crore, benefiting around 60,000 acres in nearly 150 villages. He said that the main Kandi Canal from Hoshiarpur to Balachaur, had been completed in 2016, but due to leakages and seepage at several locations, water never reached the tail-end at its full designed capacity.
To overcome these shortcomings, the government approved a rehabilitation and concrete lining project, completed during 2023-24, ensuring smooth water flow throughout the canal. He further said that the rehabilitation of 11 distributaries and minors, originally constructed 35-40 years ago and serving only 14,000 acres, was completed in 2025.
The project now would provide irrigation facilities to nearly 28,300 acres of rain-fed land in the Mukerian, Dasuya, Urmar Tanda and Sham Chaurasi Assembly segments of Hoshiarpur district. Highlighting further, Goyal said the government had completed an Rs 80-crore underground pipeline distribution system under the Kandi Canal during 2024-25, replacing conventional distributaries and minors to provide more efficient irrigation.
As a result, around 60,000 acres across 215 villages in Hoshiarpur district are now receiving better irrigation facilities. He said an additional Rs 17-crore expansion project had already been approved to further extend the pipeline network, increasing the command area by around 8,760 acres.
The Minister said the government had also implemented micro-irrigation projects, including sprinkler and drip irrigation systems, to supply water to elevated areas around the Kandi Canal while conserving water. Under the sprinkler irrigation scheme, around 601 acres across 12 villages are being irrigated, while the drip irrigation system benefits about 144 acres in the villages of Throli, Manjhi and Nara.
He said these initiatives had significantly improved crop productivity by ensuring irrigation even in higher-altitude areas. To improve groundwater recharge in the Kandi region, he added that the department had also completed a Rs 20-lakh recharge project by reviving abandoned tube wells near the canal and feeding canal water into them through pipelines.
Besides this, a Rs 5.16-crore pond development project had also been completed by creating recharge ponds on vacant land adjoining the canal. Speaking about dam desilting, Goyal said six dams in Hoshiarpur district were currently undergoing desilting operations to restore their storage capacity, which had reduced over the years due to silt accumulation during monsoon seasons.
He said increasing the storage capacity of these dams would further strengthen irrigation facilities and also enhance government revenue. Representatives of village panchayats and local residents also thanked the Punjab Government for ensuring canal water reaches the tail-end villages.
They said farmers had been demanding reliable canal irrigation for many years, and the present government has fulfilled this long-pending demand by substantially improving irrigation infrastructure. Chairman Bobby Kaushal, Ashu Arora, Kuldeep Kumar, Soma Devi, Vikrant Jyoti, Shivam Tajula, Kishori Lal, Mahant Rameshwar, Spinka Rani and others were present on the occasion.