Punjab laid 14,000 km of pipelines to take canal water to 80% of fields, plans another 6,000 km: CM Mann
Babushahi Bureau
Chandigarh, October 23, 2026: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Friday said the state government had laid 14,000 kilometres of pipelines to expand canal irrigation, claiming that canal-water utilisation had increased from 22% in 2022 to over 80% and groundwater levels had risen by four metres.
Participating in a discussion in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Mann said around 18,000 cusecs of canal water was now reaching agricultural fields. He announced plans to lay another 6,000 kilometres of pipelines to extend canal-water access to farmers, including those who had waited decades for reliable irrigation.
Calling canal water “desi ghee for Punjab’s crops,” the Chief Minister said improved access to canal irrigation had reduced dependence on groundwater and helped raise agricultural productivity.
Mann said paddy yields in areas receiving canal water had reached nearly 90 maunds per acre this season. He stressed the need to systematically document and verify crop-wise productivity figures to assess the full impact of the irrigation initiative.
The Chief Minister said that, for decades, farmers had relied heavily on borewells as groundwater levels declined, forcing them to extract water from increasingly greater depths. Expanding canal irrigation, he said, was intended to conserve groundwater while ensuring reliable water supplies for agriculture.
He added that canal water had reached some villages where farmers had not seen it flowing through their fields for decades, describing the expansion as a significant change in the state’s irrigation system.
Mann also cited a Union government report to support his claim that Punjab’s groundwater table had risen by four metres. He said villages where water-distribution pipelines had been installed were reporting encouraging improvements in groundwater levels, while some areas previously classified as dark zones because of excessive groundwater extraction were showing signs of recovery.
“We want our farmers to have reliable access to irrigation without being forced to chase water deeper and deeper underground,” Mann said, reiterating the government’s goal of achieving 100% utilisation of available canal water.
He said the additional 6,000 kilometres of pipelines would extend the irrigation network and benefit agricultural areas that had remained deprived of adequate canal-water supplies. The government would continue strengthening the canal network and promoting judicious water use, he added.
In a post on X, Mann said the government’s canal-irrigation efforts had produced significant results and linked improved access to mineral-rich canal water with higher paddy productivity.
The Chief Minister also referred to a resolution introduced in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha against what he described as anti-democratic and oppressive laws, saying Punjab would continue to raise issues concerning democracy and the interests of its people.