Jumna Canal, Western

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This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS.

Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.

Jumna Canal, Western

An important perennial irrigation work in the Punjab, taking off from the west bank of the Jumna, and irrigating Ambala, Karnal, Hissar, Rohtak, and Delhi Districts, and parts of the Native States of Patiala and Jind. It is by far the oldest of the great canals in the Province, and originated in 1356, when Firoz Shah III utilized the torrent-bed now known as the Chautang to conduct water to the royal gardens at Hissar and Hansi. This was little more than a monsoon supply-channel, and after about a hundred years water ceased to flow farther than the lands of Kaithal. In 1568 the emperor Akbar re-excavated the work of Firoz Shah, and brought a supply from the Jumna and the Somb into the Chautang, and so on to Hansi and Hissar. This was undoubtedly a perennial canal, as is testified by the ancient bridges at Karnal and Safidon, and the complete set of water- courses with which the canal was provided, besides the original sanad or working-plan of the canal which is still in existence and promises a supply of water all the year round. A yet more ambitious scheme was under- taken in 1626 by All Mardan Khan, the engineer of the emperor Shah Jahan.

The river supply in the western branch of the Jumna was dammed up annually about 14 miles below the present head-works of the canal, and the water led along the drainage line at the foot of the high land through Panipat and Sonepat to Delhi. Drainages and escapes were fairly well provided for ; and the Pulchaddar aqueduct, which took the canal across the Najafgarh jhil drain near Delhi, was, for the time, a great engineering feat, and was retained, with slight modifications, when the branch was reopened in 1819. The net revenue from the canal was reckoned equal to the maintenance of 12,000 horse. With the decay of the Delhi empire the upkeep of the canal was no longer attended to : water ceased to reach Hansi and Hissar in 1707, the flow on Firoz Shah's line at Safidon stopped in 1720, and the Delhi branch ceased to flow in 1753-60. The Delhi branch was reopened in 1819, and the Hansi branch in 1825. The alignment of the canal was, however, by no means satisfactory ; and as early as 1846 it was noticed that the concentrated irrigation, the defective drainage, and the high banks which cut off the flow of the natural drainage of the country, all contributed to rapid deterioration of the soil and decline in health of the people. Saline efflorescence was rapidly spreading, and the inhabi- tants of the waterlogged area were affected with chronic disorders of the liver and spleen. Between 1870 and 1882 various remodelling schemes were sanctioned, with the object of securing increased control over the supply and its distribution, greater facilities for navigation, and improved drainage; and these have resulted in the complete disappearance of the swamps and accumulations of water, and a most marked improvement in the health of the people. The Sirsa branch was sanctioned in 1888, and this and subsequent minor extensions have largely increased the irrigating capacity of the canal. No less than 200,000 acres were rendered secure in 1896-7 by the Sirsa branch alone.

The head of the canal is at Tajewala in Ambala District, in 30 degree 17' N. and 77 degree 37' E., about 1 ½ miles from the point where the river emerges from the lower hills. The river is here crossed by a weir 1,700 feet in length, flanked at each end by a scouring sluice and head regulator for the Eastern Jumna Canal on the left bank and for the Western Jumna Canal on the right, the full capacities authorized being respectively 1,300 and 6,380 cubic feet per second. The Western Jumna Canal has thus a maximum discharge more than three times that of the average flow of the Thames at Teddington. For the first 14 miles of its course the canal runs almost entirely in the old west branch of the Jumna river. It then effects a junction with the Somb river, a masonry dam across which holds up the combined streams and forces them into the canal head at Dadupur, which is provided with a regulator and a rapid a short distance below. After a farther course of about 38 miles, chiefly in natural channels, there is at Indri a regulator with a lock and escape head, where the canal divides into the Sirsa branch and the new main line. The Sirsa branch has a capacity of 2,000 cubic feet per second, and runs for 115 miles, watering the arid tract of country between Indri and Sirsa, Some 31 miles farther on, the main line bifurcates into the Hansi and new Delhi branches. The Hansi branch has a length of 47 miles and a discharge of nearly 2,000 cubic feet per second, and gives off the Biitana branch with a capacity of 700 cubic feet per second.

The new Delhi branch has a capacity of 1,750 cubic feet per second and a length of 74 miles to the point where it meets the Okhla navigation canal at Delhi. The total length of main canal and branches is 343 miles, of distributaries (major and minor) 1,797 mites, of drainage cuts 657 miles, of escapes 76 miles, and of mill channels 9 miles. The total area commanded by the canal is 4,000 square miles, of which 3,300 square miles are cultivable. The average area of crops irrigated during the twenty years ending 1894-5 was 529 square miles, which rose in the four years ending 1903-4 to an average of 944 square miles ; and the work is estimated to irrigate altogether 1,259 square miles. The capital outlay to the end of March, 1904 (excluding a contribution of 11 ½ lakhs from the Patiala State), was 172.7 lakhs. The gross revenue for the three years ending March, 1904, averaged 23 lakhs, and the net revenue, after paying all interest charges and working expenses, 7.6 lakhs, or 4.4 per cent, on the capital outlay. The main line and the new Delhi branch are navigable from the head-works to Delhi. The Hansi branch is navigable to where it meets the Southern. Punjab Railway at Hansi. The expenditure on the provision for navigation is estimated at 16 lakhs ; and, although near Delhi there is a certain amount of boat traffic, and timber is largely rafted down the canal, this large expenditure has proved hitherto a financial loss, and the combination of navigation with irrigation a failure. There are flour-mills at several of the falls ; but the flour and the other mills at Delhi, which at one time were worked advanta- geously, are now closed, the water being too valuable to be used for this purpose.