LAHORE: Government of the Punjab has planned Jalalpur Irrigation project, a new non-perennial irrigation system for enhancing the agricultural produce in Pindadan Khan and Khaushab areas.
The concept of providing irrigation supplies to this area is not new and has been in consideration since 1930. The proposed canal will off take from the left bank of Rasul Barrage. This was told by Punjab Minister for Irrigation Amanat Ullah Khan Shadikhel while presiding over a departmental meeting. The minister said that proposed Jalalpur project will enhance agricultural production by providing irrigation supplies to 170,000 acres of land.
The proposed canal is 115 km long with designed discharge of 1350 cusecs and it will underpass the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway and a culvert has already been provided for that. The canal will have a distribution system of 23 distributary channels, 10 minor canals and more than 780 hydraulic structures of various kinds.
Amanat Ullah Khan Shadikhel told that the project would benefit over 225,000 rural people spread over 80 villages in the project area and it is worthwhile to mention here that most of the beneficiaries are small farmers. The project also includes a number of water supply schemes to provide drinking water to various settlements in the area. It is worth-mentioning that the aquifer in the area is brackish and not fir for drinking or irrigation.
