Rajasthan CM Bhajanlal Sharma unveils ₹1,717 crore Ganga Canal modernization projects, raises sugarcane MSP, and strengthens farmer welfare initiatives.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma spoke at the Ganga Canal’s centennial festivities in Sadhuwali, Sri Ganganagar, which commemorated the canal’s establishment in 1925. He unveiled ₹1,717 crore worth of initiatives for the canal system’s modernization and repair during the ceremony.

Among the projects are the ₹647 crore rehabilitation of the Ferozepur Feeder to stabilize water supplies, the ₹300 crore restoration of the Bikaner Canal, and the ₹695 crore first phase of automating 3.14 lakh hectares of the Ganga Canal command area. Real-time monitoring and scientific water distribution will be made possible by automation. An additional ₹75 crore has been approved for the repair of damaged distributaries and canals. The goal is to finish all of the work by October 2027.

According to Sharma, over the previous two years, ₹5,000 crore has been allocated for irrigation-related projects. Tenders for projects worth ₹3,265 crore have been launched, while projects totaling ₹1,400 crore are presently being carried out. He went on to say that ₹3,400 crore had been set aside for the building of pucca distributaries and the repair of the Indira Gandhi Canal systems. To supervise execution, a Chief Minister’s Irrigation Task Force has been established.

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The Chief Minister also declared that the minimum support price for sugarcane would rise by ₹15 per quintal. The early variety’s revised MSP is ₹416 per quintal, the general variety’s is ₹406, and the late variety’s is ₹401.

Regarding farmer welfare initiatives, Sharma stated that the PM-Kisan scheme has given over 76 lakh farmers in Rajasthan more than ₹10,000 crore. He went on to say that 33 lakh metric tonnes of wheat, including bonuses given over the previous two years, had been purchased at support price and that ₹44,000 crore in interest-free short-term crop loans had been disbursed.

Canal projects in Sri Ganganagar district include ₹60 crore for distributary building in the Bikaner and Ganga Canal regions and ₹185 crore for repairing damaged distributaries under the Kanwarsen Lift Canal. In addition to ₹75 crore for fortifying a portion of the Indira Gandhi Main Canal, another ₹200 crore would be used to rebuild pucca distributaries spanning 44,000 hectares in several blocks.

Sharma visited the Ganga Canal site and examined exhibits from the departments of agriculture, horticulture, and irrigation as part of the centennial celebration.