Upcoming canal closure: USC System farmers demand urgent remedial measures

ISLAMABAD: Farmers belonging to the command area of Machai Branch Canal of the Upper Swat Canal (USC) System demanded the Irrigation department to embark on the remedial measures such as desilting, operationalisation of silt excluder/ejectors of these canals during the upcoming canal closure in January 2024 on war footing to save them from colossal financial loses by permanently rectifying the defects and operational issues of the entire canal system.

Farmers are reporting accumulation of silt/sand in their fields since the operation of the canal after the 2022 devastating floods in the Swat River.

Khan Faraz, former secretary Pakistan Tobacco Board said that this is not only lowering withdrawal of design discharges in the off-taking distributaries and minor canals, but also affecting deterioration of the soil texture and water supply to the fields.

Recently, decline in crop yield up to 50 percent has been noticed in the command area due to these issues, especially in the newly-constructed Baizai Irrigation Channel.

River Swat is the main source of irrigation water supplies for the four major districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa i.e. Mardan, Charsadda, Swabi, and Nowshehra. It originates as Ushu and Gabral rivers in the Kohistan range of northern mountains of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and takes the name of River Swat at Kalam at the confluence of the two rivers. Panjkora River from Dir Valley joins the Swat River downstream of Totakan.

There are two major off-takes from the River, Upper Swat Canal at Amandara Headworks and Lower Swat Canal at Munda Headworks. Apart from these two major off takes, dozens of civil canals are also off-taking from the Swat River all along its length.

Commissioned in 1914, the Upper Swat Canal (USC) takes water from the Swat River at the Amandara Headworks. It was originally designed for a discharge of 2,420 cusecs to irrigate an area of 315,000 acres of the Charsaddah-Mardan-Swabi Plain.

The canal, after traversing the narrow ridge of Malakand hills through the unlined Benton Tunnel, eventually bifurcates at Dargai into the two branches of Machai and Abazai.

In order to address the issue, farmers of the affected areas are demanding the Irrigation department to embark on remedial measures such as desilting, operationalisation of silt excluder/ejectors, minor repairs and maintenance of these canals during the upcoming canal closure in January 2024 on war footing basis to save poor farmers from colossal financial loses by permanently rectifying the defects and operational issues of the complete canal system.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023