Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has said that canal water is now reaching more than 80% of the state’s agricultural fields through a 14,000-km network of underground pipelines, marking a major expansion of irrigation infrastructure and a stated effort to reduce dependence on groundwater.
Speaking in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Mann said the pipeline network was carrying 18,000 cusecs of canal water to agricultural fields. He said the government would lay another 6,000 km of pipelines as part of its plan to extend canal irrigation to every field.
Mann said the expansion had helped increase canal-water utilisation from 22% in 2022 to more than 80% now. He also claimed that groundwater levels had improved by up to four metres in parts of the state following the increased use of canal water.
The chief minister linked the irrigation programme to agricultural productivity, saying paddy yields had reached nearly 90 maunds per acre during the current season. In a post on X, he said the government’s efforts to bring mineral-rich canal water to farms had helped conserve groundwater and protect the farming community.
Punjab’s irrigation system has long relied heavily on groundwater extraction, particularly for paddy cultivation. The expansion described by the chief minister shifts a larger share of irrigation demand towards surface water delivered through canals and underground distribution pipelines. The reported network is intended to improve the reach of canal water beyond the main channels and closer to individual agricultural fields.
The scale of the infrastructure programme also creates an administrative challenge: extending a pipeline network across thousands of kilometres requires coordination between canal authorities, agricultural departments and local farming communities. The government has not, in the statement reported from the Assembly, provided a project-wise breakdown of the completed pipelines, the districts covered or the cost of the work.
Mann said the next phase would add 6,000 km to the existing network. The stated objective is to ensure that canal water reaches every agricultural field while conserving Punjab’s groundwater reserves. Further details on the implementation schedule and the locations covered by the next phase were not provided in the supplied report.
