Indira Gandhi Canal repair accomplished in record time

Work was taken up mainly in Rajasthan and partly in Punjab

In an engineering feat, the repair and relining of the Indira Gandhi Canal, the country’s longest canal which terminates in irrigation facilities in Thar desert, was accomplished in a record 60-day period amid the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic, restoring 70 km of both the main canal and the feeder distributaries. The work was taken up mainly in Rajasthan and partly in neighbouring Punjab. The project was a race against time, as the repairs required closure of the canal system, which directly impacted the drinking and irrigation needs of 1.75 crore people as well as numerous cattle, Army cantonment along the international border and industrial usage in the border districts. Thousands of workers and officials worked round the clock with the strict COVID protocols to achieve the target on time.