Hundreds of farmers and residents of the area demonstrated against the concrete lining of the Indira Gandhi and Sirhind feeder canals on Thursday. Their protest was registered by walking three kilometers from the mini-secretariat to the canals with flags and banners.
This project, a joint venture between Punjab and Rajasthan governments, will reinforce the canal lining with a 10-mm polythene film along with cement, mortar, and brick tiles.
According to Sandeep Arora, founder of the Society for Environment and Ecological Resources (SEER), if the canals get concretised, there will be no system to recharge the groundwater. An effort is underway to stop the proposed project, and SEER is at the forefront.
The government has been urged to prevent the canals from being lined with concrete by many farmers, social activists, and nongovernmental organizations. In the area, many acres of land are indirectly irrigated by seepage through canals.
In the area around the canal and its branches, SEER estimates that there are thousands of trees. “The biodiversity of the region had to be understood and the concreteisation project’s environmental impact measured before the relining was ordered,” sources said.