Ecological impact of indira gandhi canal project: a case study of rajasthan state (india)

摘要

Indira Gandhi Nehar Pariyojana (IGNP), well known as Rajashtan Canal Project, is a gigantic and ambitious project of national importance, which was aimed to irrigate over two million Hectares of the North-Western Thar Desert region. The Indira Gandhi canal command area however, covers approximately four per cent of the arid zones of India and nearly one-twelfth part of Rajasthan. With the completion of main canal, it will lay over 649 km, and to flow through mainly four districts of western Rajasthan, i.e. Ganganagar, Bikaner, Jaisalmer, and Barmer. The canal is oriented approximately parallel to the India and Pakistan border at an average distance of 40 km. The Indira Gandhi project is both the glory and sorrow of Rajasthan. It is undisputable that the building of such a canal in a hostile desert environment is a tremendous technological mismanagement and the incuitable corruption has combined effects on the beneficial aspects of the Indira Gandhi Canal Project.