The land of 2 and a half rivers

As we continued on NH-15 from Rajastan towards Punjab, the sandy terrain slowly started to turn greenish. As we entered Punjab, we understood the reason why it is called the “Granary of India”. Punjab has a strong network of canals and majority of its population is engaged in agriculture. The entire highway was lined up with cultivated fields on both the sides. But major cities such has Bhatinda clearly had the industrial flavour. The abundant water in its canals took me to my school days again - Punjab - the land of five rivers. But in reality, the state of Punjab has only two and a half rivers and all of them are the tributaries of river Indus. Beas ad Sutlej irrigate the fields of Punjab while Ravi is shared between Punjab and Pakistan. Punjab is the land where the oldest of the Civilizations, Indus Valley Civilization, flourished.

Rajastan government supplies water to some of its parts through Indira Gandhi Canal system. These canals are fed by the rivers of Punjab. Villagers in Rajastan drink the canal water but most people in Punjab don’t drink water from the rivers but from tube wells. Since canals irrigate only for about 3-4 months in the year, the people of Punjab are heavily dependent on ground water for drinking as well as irrigational purposes.

Even the famous lake of Golden Temple is fed with ground water and sometimes with water from the canal. The lake is fitted with 4 imported filters at its corners. It is the biggest lake filtering system in Asia. The filters are so efficient in cleaning the lake that the lake needs to be emptied only once in 10-12 years for comprehensive cleaning.

Availability of ground water lured farmers to grow water intensive crops. Because of over extraction, ground water level has depleted heavily. Overuse of fertilizers and pesticides has started to contaminate ground water and surface water at a higher rate. Now the state government has put a ban on growing paddy till monsoon season.

On the other hand the heavy dependence of people on agriculture has given rise to diabolical consequences. Lesser agricultural yield is pushing farmers to abandon agriculture and sell lands to industries at a lower rate. The industries have slowly been replacing farmers in ground water extraction and polluting water bodies through untreated industrial waste.

Punjab is also the home for a recent water conflicts. The Sutlej Yamuna Link canal work is under political and legal conflict and if completed, will bring the water of Ganges too to the region along the canal. But the over reliance of the people of Punjab on ground water will someday act against them.

The journey was from Hanumangarh to Amritsar to Wagah Border back to Amritsar on 13th of May 2008. Below is the GPS track of the ride.
Day 18 at EveryTrail