BACKGROUND STUDY
Agra canal Regional Contextv Agra canal starts its journey from the district of Delhi, flowing on through Faridabad, Palwal Mathura and finally ends up in Agra where it joins tributary river of Yamuna. The canal is about 163 km long and carries a discharge of about 63.5m3/ sec. It irrigates about 138,000 hectares of land mainly in two districts of Mathura and Agra in Uttar Pradesh. Agra canal mostly passes through irrigational land and still used as an irrigational canal it. It helps in the enhancement of production of wheat, rice, sugarcane, maize, pulses, and oilseeds in its command area. The canal is spit into two in Gurgaon and called as Gurgaon canal which is an interstate project between Rajasthan & Haryana and takes off from Agra canal at a distance of around 8 km from its off-take at Okhla barrage. The water flow capacity of this canal is 14.15m3/sec and land irrigated by this canal is about 40,000 hectares. Time line of Agra canal • This canal was contemplated when the question of the remodelling of the Ganges canal was being agitated in 1804. • It was then pointed out that water might be drawn from the River Jamuna below Delhi to supplement the irrigation of the Ganga-Jamuna bench Iands. • The idea was further discussed in 1866. • In 1807 projects were submitted. • In 1868 the works were sanction for the purpose of famine relief. • The works as eventually sanctioned in 1872 correspond closely to the present completed Agra canal project. • It was formally opened in March, 1874. • In 1875 it was found that the original weir was insufficient. The great flood of that year had seriously injured the scouring sluices and the works were then reconstructed. • As originally constructed in 1874, weir was not more than 130 feet width from top to heel, but after being injured by successive floods it was carried out and added to until its width is now over 240 feet. • Navigation on the canal was stopped in 1904 because it was intervening with the irrigation.
Historical maps of Agra canal (Source: India and Pakistan 1:250,000, U.S. Army Map Service, 1960; Survey of India, Murray’s Handbook) 04
Source: Water-supply and Irrigation Papers of the United States Geological Survey, Volumes 84-89
