VaughnBrooks3 at 06:57, 22 January 2026

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{{Short description|Irrigation canal system in Uttar Pradesh, India}}
{{Hatnote|For the canal system in [[Sri Ganganagar]] district of [[Rajasthan]], see [[Ganga Canal (Rajasthan)]]}}
{{EngvarB|date=May 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2014}}
[[File:GangesCanal2.jpg|right|250px|thumb|The Ganges Canal highlighted in red stretching between its headworks off the [[Ganges river]] in [[Haridwar district|Hardwar]] and its confluence with the [[Yamuna River|Jumna river]] below [[Cawnpore]] (now Kanpur).]]
[[Image:Ganges canal oldEIC bridge1854.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Photograph of an old bridge on the Ganges Canal (constructed before 1854 during [[Company rule in India|East India Company rule in India]]). The photograph was taken from a moving car.]]

The '''Ganges Canal''' or '''Ganga Canal''' is a [[canal]] system that irrigates the [[Doab]] region between the [[Ganges River]] and the [[Yamuna River]] in India.

The canal is primarily an irrigation canal, although parts of it were also used for navigation, primarily for its construction materials. Separate navigation channels with lock gates were provided on this system for boats to negotiate falls. Originally constructed from 1842 to 1854, for an original head discharge of 6000 ft³/s, the Upper Ganges Canal has since been enlarged gradually for the present head discharge of 10,500 ft³/s (295 m³/s). The system consists of the main canal of 272 miles and about 4,000 miles long distribution channels. The canal system irrigates nearly 9,000 km² of fertile agricultural land in ten districts of [[Uttar Pradesh]] and [[Uttarakhand]]. Today the canal is the source of agricultural prosperity in much of these states, and the irrigation departments of these states actively maintain the canal against a fee system charged from users.

There are some small hydroelectric plants on the canal capable of generating about 33 MW if running at full capacity; these are at Nirgajini, Chitaura, Salawa, Bhola, Jani, Jauli and Dasna.<ref>
{{Cite web
|url = http://irrigation.up.nic.in/irrigation%20rates.pdf
|title = UP Irrigation department, Irrigation charges 2014.
|url-status = dead
|archive-url = https://www.webcitation.org/6ZKBQJF14?url=http://irrigation.up.nic.in/irrigation%20rates.pdf
|archive-date = 16 June 2015
|df = dmy
}}</ref><ref>
{{Cite web
|url = http://irrigation.up.nic.in/irrigation%20rates.pdf
|title = Webcite - UP Irrigation department, Irrigation charges 2014.
|url-status = dead
|archive-url = https://www.webcitation.org/6ZKBQJF14?url=http://irrigation.up.nic.in/irrigation%20rates.pdf
|archive-date = 16 June 2015
|df = dmy
}}</ref>

==Structure==
[[Image:Headworks ganges canal haridwar1860.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Photograph (1860) of the head works of the Ganges Canal in [[Haridwar]], by [[Samuel Bourne]].]]
[[Image:Headworks ganges canal haridwar2008a.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Photograph (2008) of the head works of the Ganges Canal in Haridwar, taken from the opposite side.]]
The canal is administratively divided into the Upper Ganges Canal from [[Haridwar]] to [[Aligarh]], with some branches, and the Lower Ganges Canal which
constitutes several branches below Aligarh.

===Upper Ganges Canal===
The Upper Ganges canal is the important and the original ''Ganges Canal'', which starts at the
[[Bhimgoda Barrage]] near [[Har ki Pauri]] at
[[Haridwar]], traverses [[Roorkee]], [[Purkazi|Purquazi]], [[Sardhana]] (Meerut district), [[Muradnagar]], [[Dasna]], [[Bulandshahr]], [[Khurja]], [[Harduaganj]] and continues to Nanau (near Akrabad) in
[[Aligarh district]], where it bifurcates into the
[[Kanpur]] branch and [[Etawah]] branch.

===Lower Ganges Canal===
A channel from Chaudhary Charan Singh [[Barrage (dam)|barrage]] at [[Narora]] (Bulandshahr district) intersects the canal system
48 km downstream from Nanau (Aligarh district), and continues past the [[Sengar River]] and [[Sersa River]], past [[Shikohabad]] in [[Firozabad|Firozabad District]] to become the Bhognipur branch which was opened in 1880. This branch, starting at Jera village in Mainpuri district, runs for 166 km to reach Kanpur.

At kilometre 64 the Balrai escape carries excess water through a 6.4 km. channel through the ravines to discharge into the Yamuna. This branch has 386 km. of distributary channels.

The Bhognipur branch, together with the Kanpur and Etawah branches, is known as the Lower Ganges Canal. The old channels of the old Kanpur and Etawah branches between Nanau and the point of intersection by the channel from Narora, are known as "stumps", and are utilized only when the supply of water in the lower Ganges system runs low.<ref>
{{Cite web
|title= District Gazetter: Etawah (UP), Chapter IV: Agriculture and Irrigation
|url = http://etawah.nic.in/gaz/4.htm
}} Describes the canal works in central UP under the fifth plan</ref> The main branch of the river passes Kanpur (behind [[IIT Kanpur]] campus) before breaking into several branches. A branch of it terminates Kanpur Jal Sansthan which comes from behind [[J. K. Temple]].

==History==
[[Image:Ganges canal roorkee1860.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Watercolor (1863) titled, "The Ganges Canal, [[Roorkee]], [[Saharanpur District]] ([[Uttar Pradesh|U.P.]])." The canal was the brainchild of [[Proby Cautley|Sir Proby Cautley]]; construction began in 1840, and the canal was opened by Governor-General Lord Dalhousie in April 1854.]]
[[Image:GangesCanalRoorkee2008.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Photograph (2008) of an [[East India Company]]-era (1854) bridge on the Ganges Canal near [[Roorkee]]]]
An irrigation system was felt necessary after the disastrous [[Agra famine of 1837–38]], in which nearly 800,000 people died, and nearly ten million rupees was spent on relief works, resulting in considerable loss of revenue to the [[British East India Company]]. One of the moving forces behind the canal was Colonel [[Proby Cautley]], who was confident that a 500-kilometre canal was feasible. There were many obstacles and objections to his project, mostly financial, but Cautley persevered and after spending six months walking and riding through the area taking measurements, he managed to persuade the British East India Company to sponsor the project.

Digging of the canal began in April 1842.<ref name=gaze/> Cautley had to make his own bricks, [[Kiln|brick kiln]] and mortar. Initially, he was opposed by the [[Hindu]] priests at Haridwar, who felt that the waters of the [[holy river]] Ganges would be imprisoned but Cautley pacified them by agreeing to leave a gap in the dam from where the water could flow unchecked. He further appeased the priests by undertaking the repair of bathing ghats along the river. He also inaugurated the dam by the worship of [[Ganesh|Lord Ganesh]], the god of good beginnings. The dam was faced with many complications- among them was the problem of the mountainous streams that threatened the canal. Near [[Roorkee]], the land fell away sharply and Cautley had to build an aqueduct to carry the canal for half a kilometre. As a result, at Roorkee the canal is 25 metres higher than the original river. When the canal formally opened on 8 April 1854,<ref name=gaze>[https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/pager.html?objectid=DS405.1.I34_V12_144.gif Upper Ganges Canal] Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 12, p. 138.</ref> its main channel was {{convert|348|mi|km}} long, its branches {{convert|306|mi|km}} long and the various tributaries over {{convert|3000|mi|km}} long. After irrigation was commenced in May 1855,<ref name=gaze/> over {{convert|767000|acre|km2|-1}} in 5,000 villages were irrigated.

In 1877 the whole canal system of the lower Doabs underwent radical alteration. The Lower Ganges Canal, with a feed from a channel from Narora, was constructed into the ghar tract of Etawah, and became the Bhognipur branch. Around 1900, according to the Nuttall Encyclopedia of 1907, it had a total extent of {{convert|3700|mi|km}}, of which {{convert|500|mi|km}} were navigable. Building of this canal also eventually led to the establishment of first engineering college in India,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iitr.ac.in/institute/pages/History.html|work=IIT Roorkee Website|publisher=IIT Roorkee|access-date=14 July 2013|title=History, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee }}</ref> the College of Civil Engineering at Roorkee (Now [[Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee]]).<ref>{{Citation
|publisher = Secundra Orphan Press
|date = 1851
|location = Agra
|title = Account of Roorkee College
|ol = 7157290M}}</ref>

<gallery class="center">
Image:Ganga canal.jpg|The Ganges Canal.
Image:Ganges canal oldEIC bridge1854b.jpg|The same East India Company bridge as in the lead paragraph photographed from the other side.
File:Ganges canal water mill1854b.jpg|A water mill on the canal.
Image:Ganges canal oldEIC locks1854b.jpg|150-year-old locks on the canal.
</gallery>

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last=Cautley |first=Proby T. |author-link=Proby Thomas Cautley |title=Report of the Ganges Canal Works from their Commencement Until the Opening of the Canal in 1854 |place=London |publisher=Smith, Elder |date=1860 }}
*{{cite book |last=Cautley |first=Proby T. |author-link=Proby Thomas Cautley |title=Ganges Canal: a disquisition on the heads of the Ganges and Jumna canals, North-Western Provinces, in reply to strictures by Major-General Sir Arthur Cotton |url=https://archive.org/stream/gangescanaladis01cautgoog#page/n7/mode/1up |year=1864|place=London }}

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Nuttall}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Ganges Canal}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20170719115021/http://irrigation.up.nic.in/history.htm History of Irrigation in Uttar Pradesh]

{{Hydrography of Uttar Pradesh}}
{{Authority control}}

{{Coord|29|46|N|78|12|E|display=title|region:IN_type:river_source:GNS-enwiki}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ganges Canal}}
[[Category:Ganges]]
[[Category:Kanpur]]
[[Category:Haridwar]]
[[Category:Canals in Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:Canals opened in 1854]]
[[Category:1854 establishments in India]]

Ganges Canal - Revision history

VaughnBrooks3 at 06:57, 22 January 2026