| Madhopur Headworks | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 32°22′36″N75°36′22″E / 32.3767°N 75.6062°E /32.3767; 75.6062 | |
| Waterway | Ravi River |
| Country |  India |
| State | Punjab |
| Maintained by | Punjab Department of Irrigation |
| First built | 1875 |
| Latest built | 1959 |
| Length | 2,700 feet (820 m) |
| Discharge capacity Up to 9000cusec[1] | |
Madhopur Headworks is abarrage on theRavi River inMadhopur, just 14 km fromPathankot city inPathankot district in theIndianstate ofPunjab. It is located on the border withJammu and Kashmir. TheUpper Bari Doab Canal (UBDC) off-taking from Madhopur irrigates agricultural lands inPunjab and provides water to the cities ofPathankot,Gurdaspur,Batala andAmritsar.
The headworks was one of the first irrigation projects constructed inPunjab during theBritish Raj, within 10 years of theconquest of Punjab. It provided irrigation in the lands of Gurdaspur, Amritsar and Lahore districts of the undivided Punjab. During thepartition arrangements,Cyrill Radcliffe allocated three tehsils ofGurdaspur district toIndia for maintaining the integrity of the canal system from Madhopur.
After independence,India signed theIndus Waters Treaty obtaining the exclusive use of waters from the Ravi River. Subsequently,India rebuilt the Madhopur headwork as full barrage. Pakistan continues to use the UBDC canal network within its territory, replacing the Ravi waters by waters fromChenab via theBRB Canal.
A canal by nameHasli canal was constructed during the reign of Mughal EmperorShah Jahan (r. 1628–1658), taking water from Madhopur toLahore. The canal plan was created byAli Mardan Khan and built into construction by Mullah Ala'ul-Mul Tuni.[2]
In the 19th century, the Sikh emperorRanjit Singh refurbished the canal and extended it with another branch going toAmritsar.[2][3]
According to Scholar Ian Stone, these early canals were defective in many ways. The construction was made from weak masonry structures and easily gave way to floods. They were also prone to silt deposits and therefore had to be periodically refurbished.[4]
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After conquering Punjab from theSikhs in 1849, the British East India Company rebuilt the canals under the name Upper Bari Doab Canal (UBDC).[a] It was planned and carried out by engineers Joseph Henry Dyas and James Crofton.[5][6] Providing employment to the disbanded Sikh soldiers via agriculture is said to have been the main motivation for its urgent construction.[7] The new canals were opened in 1859 and irrigated agricultural lands inGurdaspur,Amritsar andLahore districts.[8] No headworks were constructed at this time due to apprehensions that they would not be able to withstand the floods of the Ravi River. A side channel of the river with aweir and falling shutters regulated the canal waters.[9] A bridge with 23 arched openings 10 feet wide was constructed for this purpose.[10][11] Modern commentators also note that the canal was constructed with an excessive slope of 0.05 m/km which caused erosion of its bed.[9]
The Madhopur headwork was added during 1875–1879. It consisted of a 2,700 feet (820 m) long weir across the Ravi river, with the crest varying from 3 feet to 6 feet above the bed of the river. The last 300 feet towards on the left (towards Punjab) held undersluices with 12 openings of 20 feet width and 3–4 feet height. They were operated by iron gates.[10]
Even though the canal system was capable of carrying flows of 6,500 cubic feet (180 m3) per second, the headwork supplied a maximum of 4,850 cubic feet (137 m3) per second. The main line of the canal ran to 31 miles (50 km) after which it divided into a main branch and a Kasur branch near the town ofGurdaspur. The two branches had further subbranches leading toLahore andSobraon respectively.[9][12]
Most of these areas were later scenes of conflict during theIndo-Pakistani War of 1965.[13]
In 1955, a full barrage was constructed at Madhopur after the original weir of the Madhopur headwork got damaged in a flood.[1] Over the next two years, a Madhopur–Beas Link canal was also added, to link the Ravi waters to theBeas River via theChaki nalla.[14][15]
The UBDC canal network was remodelled during 2001–2005 after the construction of theRanjit Sagar Dam. It presently carries up to 9,000 cubic feet (250 m3) per second, distributing them to seven branches and 247 distributaries. The total length of the canal network is 3,119 kilometres (1,938 mi) and cultivates 573,000 hectares (1,420,000 acres) of land.[1]