Institutional perspectives of land reclamation operations in Punjab: a case study of the Lower Chenab Canal (East) Circle area
1994
Bandaragoda, D.J. | Saeed ur Rahman (International Irrigation Management Inst., Lahore (Pakistan))
The Directorate of Land Reclamation (DLR), set up in 1945, is a special unit of Punjab's Irrigation and Power Department for undertaking research and field operations to combat the problem of salinity. Approaching the end of five decades of existance, the directorate is yet to demonstrate its effectiveness in its assigned task; its inability to fully cope with the conditions of a fast changing irrigation environment makes this rather an illusive goal. In the selection of lands for reclamation, the Directorate is heavily dependent on the visual salinity survey (Thur Girdawari) carried out every year by the Irrigation Department's field staff. This visual survey appears to be a quick and cost-effective method of assessing surface salinity, but its exclusive use as the criterion for selection of affected land is a questionable approach. According to original departmental procedure, reclamation activities were confined to only two of five classes of soil identified by the visual salinity survey, but the current practice of including all the types of salt-affected soils in reclamation operations has made the selection process more subjective.
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