Ranbir Canal: From lifeline to toxic waterway; urgent call for restoration and pollution control

Household and industrial waste keepingcanal polluted, unfit for bathing even

JAMMU: Ranbir canal, the largest irrigation canal network of Jammu & Kashmir which once used to be a major source of potable as well as irrigation facility for people of Jammu region today is a highly polluted water body, not even ideal for bathing purposes.
While presently its usage has a limited access to irrigation purposes for some of nearby villages which fall across its both sides, the water which flows in it running through the heart of the city goes unutilized.
“Even for bathing purposes, the water is not good as it is highly contaminated with effluents which pour into it through industrial and household waste. Besides, patients, mostly young children and youth reporting sick are also diagnosed with stomach ailments caused through toxic consumptions,” said Dr Vishal Gupta a general physician.
Though in winter the water gates on river Chenab at old bridge Akhnoor are kept closed and are opened after Baisakhi ( April 13), but only before the government completes sewerage clearance from the beds of river Ranbir Canal.
“Lakhs of rupees are spent every year by Irrigation and Flood Control Department to de-silt 60-km Ranbir Canal, but the exercise turns futile as sewage dump in the canal from household and other industrial waste goes unabated into it,” said a source in I&FC department.
He said that the government needs to plug the insanitary disposal which makes the water toxic which cannot be cleaned through de-silting only.
An official at Divisional Officer Jammu North ( I&FC) said that he had earlier written a proposal to the government to take up plugging of household and industrial seepage in the canal which is the only way to stop pollution in the Ranbir Canal .
“If such will prevails upon the government, I am very sure the canal can be restored to its pristine glory,” he said.
The construction of the 114-year-old canal was taken up by erstwhile Dogra Maharaja Partap Singh in 1905 and completed in 1911 at the cost of Rs. 35,36,714 and named after his father Maharaja Ranbir Singh. The main canal is 60 km in length which flows from River Chenab at Akhnoor and ends up at Nekowal on Sialkote border.

Updated On 7/3/2024 1:21:58 AM