Saturday 31 May 2014
Greater Thal Canal (GTC) falls in the territory
of Jhang, Khushab, Bhakhar and Layyah districts. It helped in strengthening the
agricultural, irrigation sectors of the country. The project has significant environmental
impacts with no major resettlement issues.
The history of the Thal Canal Project
goes back to over 130 years. It was in 1873 that the project was first
conceived for the whole of Thal Doab. The proposal to irrigate this area was
repeatedly brought up for discussion in 1919, 1921, 1924, 1925, and 1936 and in
1949. It was however repeatedly shelved because of the argument that it would
severely hurt the water availability to the lower riparians. The project
proposal once again came under discussion in 1975 when 30-billion rupee Greater
Thal Canal (GTC) project has been approved and started.
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