'REPORT ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY, FOR THE YEAR 1914-1915' [‎221r] (111/150)

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IRRIGATION.
suffer from silting. Recently the rabi supply has been good and the area of irrigation has
now risen to 253,000 acres. Cotton >s the favourite kharif crop, covering 140^00 acres
PRODUCTION
AND
DISTRIBUTION.
or 80 per cent, of the kharif area.
The condition of the river approaches at the head of the Jamrdo and of the canal itself
,s very saUsfactory. The remodelling, commenced in ,91,, is now practically completed
r , 1°^ lmp ° rtant tanal , 0f ^ s y stem is Mithrao, which commands 400,000 M ithrao Canal,
acres. The irrigation was 33 per cent, of the command, a little over the average.
The new 30th and 45th mile Mithrao Right and Left Bank Distributaries a are now under
^ ^ ^ and ^
about T onrthlrd a offh a e a commld‘; 0ramand ab ° Ut 220,000 and Ule area irrigated was KM P r„, Hi ra . a„d
1 bar Canals.
The Khipro is the least efficient, but a new head is being built for it, which will ensure
a more regular supply.
(6) Canals taking off direct from the Indus.
These are two very important systems, commanding together a culturable area, in the Naarat and D4d
Hyderabad and Nawabshah districts, of 728,000 acres. Like most of other large inundation CanaIs -
canals in Sind they have more than one mouth and their prosperity or otherwise depends
upon the efficiency of these mouths. The river may leave a mouth, or may fill it up with silt
and the supply of water will be diminished or fail ; but if the river is favourable the canal
will give excellent irrigation producing bumper crops.
Both the Dad and Nasrat have experienced bad years, but they are now fortunately
doing well, especially the former on which, though some damage occurred to the kharif crops
by flooding, the rabi wheat is reported to have been a fine and extensive crop. The cut of
.1912-13 leading into the Bhorti Dhand was very successful this yeai and has been preserved
in equally good condition for the coming year.
In the case of the Nasrat the river was more unstable. The Bukhman Gharo Cut of
1Q12-13 was at hist useful, but rapid erosion and a change of course subsequently brought
the river supply direct into the Lundi Dhand and the former cut became inoperative, for
tunately however the supply was not interrupted and so both the canals had a prosperous year
irrigating more than the average area.
The largest of all the Sind canals is the Fuleli, whose head is near Hyderabad. It has Fuleli Canal.
-the advantage of an excellent supply of water all the year round and commands i| million
acres of culturable land. The silt bank which had formed at the mouth of the canal in fpi2
has now entirely disappeared and no further trouble is anticipated. Erosion inside the canal
is being successfully combated, as on the Ghar, Jamrao and other canals, by groynes. The
replacing of the antiquated needle type of head regulator by groups of horizontal gates has
had to be postponed on account of the war. Special attention is being paid to the gradual
improvements of the branches and distributaries on this canal, and the possibility of fostering
rabi irrigation, so as to utilise some of the large amount of water which flows to waste every
year at the tail escape of this canal in the rabi season.
The area cultivated during the year was about 390,000 acres which is about the averag-e
figure.
The Hasanali Canal is on the left bank about 20 miles south of Hyderabad. The length Hasanali Carial
from the river bank to the head regulator was so seriously silted that the supply was threatened. and other canals -
Fortunately the strenuous efforts made to clear the channel were rewarded with success and
an area of 18,000 acres, a little more than the average, was brought under irrigation.
On the numerous other canals in the Hyderabad district a good deal of damage was done
to the kharif crops by abnormally high floods resulting in a reduction of the area of crops
brought to maturity, but the crops were of excellent quality.
The Ren Distributary system came into operation this year and worked well. It is
found that the irrigable area will not be quite as much as originally anticipated as some of
the land is not suitable for cultivation but the channel is a very useful one.
The Great Marak like many other inundation canals has no head regulator. In Great Marak.
recent years the river has risen higher than usual and this has caused breaches. The
annual damage done in this manner has been about Rs. 12,000 for the last three years.
( ii) Works for which only Revenue Accounts are kept.
The principal canals under this head are the Naulakhi, the Mehrabwah, the Gharo
Mahmudo and the Kari Shumali. These canals had good crops.
The Naulakhi supply failed somewhat in August, when part of a protective bund was
washed away by the river. Then the progress of erosion reached the vicinity of a bend in
the second mile of the Naulakhi Canal and a new inland chord channel had to be excavated
between mile 1 to 3. This channel is now in working order.
The Mehrabwah is generally looked upon as a most unsatisfactory canal, but it did well
last year and has again had an excellent season.