Gazetteer Of The Ambala District 1892-93

· 1892 · Public domain (published pre-1930) · archive.org ↗

1Chapter J, A.

2Descriptive.

3Nature of soil,

4scenery, &c,

5Hill etreams.

6[Panjab Gazetteer,

7A OHAP, I.—THE DISTRICT.

8in the western Dhaia tract of the Ripar tahsfl and in a small

9corresponding tract in Kharar known as the Charsa circle.

10Elsewhere the well irrigation such as it is, is mostly from very

11small masonry or temporary kacha wells and is used for the small

12plots of garden cultivation in the hands of Malis or Sainis,

13usually occupancy tenants. The remaining irrigation includes a

14little from the Western Jamna Canal in Jag&dhri and Pipli,

15some occasional irrigation from kacha tanks, about 8,000 acves

16irrigated by kuls or ducts from the Ghaggar in the Neli circle

17of the Kharar tahsil, with about 1,500 acres similarly irrigated

18by kuls in the plains portion and 700 acres in the Morni hill

19portion of the Nardingarh tahsil. The crops obtained from

20the irrigated Jands are very valuable, especially the opium and

21tobacco crops raised by the Mélis and Sainis on homestead

22lands, but the high cultivation required for these crops makes it

23impossible to largely extend the nrea on which they can be

24grown, and in general the country is not adapted for irrigating

25wells owing to the uncertainty of the subsoil water-supply. ‘The

26kul irrigation of Kharar and Nardéingarh is valuable, especially

27for rice and sugarcane crops, but the effect of,the irrigation is

28almost always to make the villages of the tract véry unhealthy.

29This is more particularly the case where the water-supply is

30taken from the Ghaggar whether in the plains as in Kharar or

31in the hills as in Nardingarh.

32The general character of the hill streams, which have

33already been alluded to as a prominent feature of the district, is

34that of broad sandy courses, scarcely below the surface of the

35country, and varying in breadth from a hundred yards to up-

36wards of a mile, dry during the great part of tho year, but

37pouring down a formidable body of water in rainy weather.

38This character they maintain for a distance, on the average, of 380

39miles below the hills. They then gradually tame down into

40sluggish docile streams, with well-defined clay banks, and a

41volume which is much diminished by absorption in the sand.

42Eventually all, or almost all, the streams that leave the hills

43between the Sutle) and the Jamna unite in the Ghaggar. This

44from the commencement is the most important of them all, and

45is the only one which contains a flow of water throughout the

46year. Passing the confines of the district, it flows on through.

47Patidla and Sirsa, aud finally loses itself in the gands of Ré&j-

48putena. ‘I'he other streams are generally dry for the greater

49part of the year, and are difficult to cross only for a short time after

50heavy rain in the hills. Many of them may however then for a

51time turn into formidable torrents causing some loss of life and

52much loss of property. The tendency of all these streams is to

53gradually silt up the centre of the bed causing the flood

54water to spill on one eide or the other till the stream widens

55its course by cutting away the banks, or cuts for itself an entire-

56ly new channel through rich alluvial land. ‘The construction

57of the railway embankment across the drainage line of the country

58has much dncreased the risk of serious floods in the rainy season,