India to rebuild canals, dig new ones to tap into Indus

"The need to expand these canals has been acutely felt for decades. The main aim is to capacity to increase the net irrigation cover, the second official said.

An expansion of canals on the Indus rivers will help to reduce reliance on an increas ingly unpredictable summer monsoon, waters nearly 60% of the country's net-sown area.

"The Jammu region is favourable for year-round agri-culture but water crises have always hampered farming as availability is very limited. Being in the northernmost part of the country, the monsoon arrives very late in J&K and retreats within a few weeks unlike in the hinterland," said Abhay Singh, a federal horti culture official.

The so-called Rawi Tawi Irri-gation Complex comprises the Ravi and the Tawi Lift canal. In the Jammu division, canals provide over 90% of the total irrigation water: Ranbir caters to Jammu and Partap to Akh noor.

India is also set to expedite work on several proposed dams in the Kashmir region. These include Kishenganga, Ratle, Miyar Nallah. Lower Kalnai and Pakal Dul power projects aside from the Tulbul naviga-tion project.

J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah has pushed for the completion of the Tulbul bar rage on Wullar lake, with the IWT being suspended.

Blueprints to expand the Ranbir canal, a major carriage built in 1905, was already being worked on but they were mostly an "exercise on paper" because implementation was not possible due to "heavy restrictions imposed by the Indus treaty", the first official said, reiterating India's posi-tion that the agreement had become obsolete given that nat ural changes in the Indus sys-tem had reduced henduse and population had increased manifold.

"The length of Ranbir canal is about 60 km, which was built according to needs of the previ ous century and has remained stuck there despite growing agricultural water demand. the official cited in the first instance said.