Report on the Administration of the Punjab and its Dependencies, for 1911-1912 to 1915 (bounded together)

· 1913 · Public domain (published pre-1930) · archive.org ↗

2T9l1-19, | PUTIICAL FUAEORES OF THE COUNTRY, AREA, CLIMATE AND CHIEF STAPLES, 5

3‘, 18. Itisas well to explain here certain geographical expressions in

4constant use in the province. The area in the plains lying between each of

5the rivers of the Indus system is termed a Doab, and in the order of the

6rivers from north to south these areas are the Sind Sagar, Jech, Rechna, Bari

7Chapter r ‘5

8PHYSICAT, ANIX

9POLITICAT .

10GHOGRAPHY.

11Terms Cxa

12plained. +

13and Bist or Jullundar Doabs. The high land of the Sind Sdgar Doab isthe Thal -

14and that of the western Jech, Rechna and Bari Doabs, the Kirdna, Sdndal and

15Ganji Bars, respectively. The eastern Béri Doab in the Gurddspur, Amritsar

16and Lahore districts is the Manja. South of the Sutlej, the country occupied by

17the Sikhs is the M4lwa, and its inhabitants Malwais. The Malwa includes the

18districts of Ferozepore, Ludhiana and Ambala and the States of Patiala, J ind,

19sNadbha, Maler Kotla and Kalsia. These States are known asthe cis-Sutlej

20States. The Delhi Territory again is south of the Malwa, and roughly comprises

21the Rohtak, Delhi and Gurgaon districts and the south of Karnal and Hissar. |

22Haridna is the eastern half of Hissar district, and includes part of Robtak and

23of the States of Jind and Patiala. Bhattiana is the country of the: Bhattis in

24the west of Hissar.

2519. It will be convenient to describe the principal canals of the prov-

26ince in the order of the rivers from which each derives its supplies. The

27general feature is the comparative unimportance of the irrigation from the

28right bank of the rivers and it will be noticed that no canal takes out of the

29' river Beas. .

3020. No perennial canal has been constructed as yet from the Indus;

31but a series of inundation canals take off from the.right bank of the river

32throughout the length of the Dera Ghazi Khan district and a second from the

33left bank in Muzaffargarh district. Both series are a legacy from pre-British

344

35‘The Canals.

36Indus Canalis. .

37rule and are controlled by the State. Considerable improvements have been .

38made, especially in late years, and the number of individual canals has been

39reduced by linking together successive channels and abandoning the unneces-

40sary multiplication of outlets from the riyer. The right bank system, the Indus

41Inundation Canals, now comprises 12 canals with 431 miles of main channel and

42308 of distributaries and normally irrigates about 250,000 acres, two-thirds of

43which isin the kharif harvest. Normally the canals open about the middle

44of May and run for some five months. The chief channels are the Manka,

45the Nur-Dhundi-Sohan, the Dhundi-Kutab, and the Kédra. The: left bank

46system, the Muzaffargarh Inundation Canals, comprises six canals with a

47total mileage of 1,053 miles, normally irrigating some 280,000 acres. The canals

48open about the beginning of May and do not, as a rule, close before the begin-

49ning of November. The rabi area on these canals is greater than that of the

50Kkharif. The chief channels are the Maggi, Puran, Ghuttuand Magassan canals.

5121. The Lower Jhelum Canal, a perennial canal, irrigating the Jech

52Doab in Shahpur and Jhang districts, was opened in 1901 and now embraces

53150 miles of main channel and branches and 1,090 of distributaries. The canal

54takes off-from the left bank of the Jhelum at the weir at Mung Rasil where the

55river passes through the Pabbi branch of the Salt Range. After a course of 39.

56miles, in which it gradually approaches the ridge of the Doab, the canal

57bifureates, at Fakfrian, into two branches—the northern and southern, respec-

58tively. It has not yet been found necessary to open the Shahpur Branch, tak-

59ing off at fhe 28th mile of the main line, which was designed to assist the

60country in the Jhelum riverain now irrigated by inundation canals. The

61irrigation from this canal is still expanding and has reached some 740,000 acres,

62two-thirds of which are in the rabi harvest, ae

63Lower down the Jhelifm a series of some 22 inundation canals take

64their supplies from this river in the Shahpur district. Sixteen are owned by

65private persons and six by Government: one of the latter, Corbynwah, is the.

66only one of the series on the right bank. The total length of the Government

67canals is some 237, aud of the private canals 227 miles. The normal area

68_ irrigated is about 60,000 acres on the Government canals and 55,000. on the

69private ones. The canals run from about the middle of April to the middle of

70September.

71¢

72Jhelum -

73Canals.