Quake-hit Upper Jhelum Canal to be fed from alternative source

LAHORE: Punjab Irrigation Department has decided to use Jerri outlet to feed the Upper Jhelum Canal for ensuring irrigation supplies to Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin districts uninterrupted.

The banks of Upper Jhelum canals from RD 30 to RD 70 were badly affected by the September 25 earthquake and the department had to close the canal for avoiding breaches in the affected part of the canal.

In order to ensure that standing crops in the direct UJC supply districts of Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin are not affected, Punjab Irrigation Department will be channelling water from Jerri outlet to the UJC. It is expected that irrigation supplies to the areas downstream of quake-hit part of the canal will be resumed soon once all arrangements have been made.

Through this makeshift arrangement, the canal will be providing 1800 cusecs of water to its command area. Likewise, Punjab Irrigation Department has also increased supply to the Khanki Barrage from Marala Headworks resulting in requisite supplies to the Lower Chenab Canal for the districts of Nankana Sahib, Hafizabad, Sheikhupura, Faisalabad and Toba Tek Singh.