Sidhnai Canal, 1908
Sidhnai Canal
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.
An irrigation work in the Punjab, taking off from the left bank of the Ravi and watering part of Multan District. It derives its name, meaning ' straight,' from a remarkable reach of the Ravi, which extends in a perfectly straight cutting for 10 or 12 miles from Tulamba to Sarai Sidhu. It was opened for irrigation in 1886. The head-works consist of a weir 737 feet long, built across this reach. The main line has a bed-width of 90 feet and a maximum discharge of 1820 cubic feet per second; after 30 miles it divides into two large distributaries, which between them take nearly one-third of the whole supply. The very short length of the canal compared with the area irrigated is one cause of its financial success. There are in all 13 main distributary channels taking out of the main line, and three subsidiary canals which take out of the river above the dam. The gross area commanded is 595 square miles, of which the greater part was Govern- ment waste, and was settled by colonists brought from various parts of the Punjab, the land being given out for the most part in go-acre plots. Although the whole of the water in the Sidhnai reach can be turned into the canal, the Ravi in the winter is often absolutely dry owing to the supply taken by the Bari Doab Canal, so that the spring crop has to be matured by the aid of wells. The average area irrigated during the three years ending 1903-4 was 190 square miles. The capital outlay up to the end of 1903-4 was about 13 lakhs, and the average annual profit more than n per cent
