Collapse of canal system much to blame, applications for tube wells mount With the century-old canal system collapsing, farmers are being forced to draw more and more groundwater for irrigation. Owing to sheer apathy of the authorities, a number of canal distributaries in Amritsar and Tarn Taran have not received water for decades. Dejected, many farmers of Neshta, Mahawa, Rajatal and Daoke villages in Attari have now started growing crops on the land where once the canal water flowed. There is not a drop of water in the century-old Kiran Nullah, once a a lift system-fed distributary that provided irrigation to dozens of high-lying villages such as Miadian, Nepal, Kotli, Kehra, Motla, Jaramkot and Poongae in the Ajnala subdivision.The room where pumps were installed to lift the water can still be seen at the nullah site. Such is the irony that farmers tilling land on the banks of the Ravi have installed pumps to draw groundwater even as the river flows just a kilometre away. Contrary to popular perception, about 75 per cent irrigation in the state is done with the help of groundwater pumps and only 25 per cent of the agricultural land is fed by canal water. The area under canal irrigation is decreasing continuously which is evident from the rising demand for tube well connections. From 1970-71 to 2005-06, the number of tube wells in the state have increased from a mere 0.19 million to 1.15 million. Sources in the Irrigation Department said the Upper Bari Doab Canal, that has a sanctioned discharge of 9,000 cusecs, has little water. Farmers of villages in Ajnala have held demonstrations to seek repair of canals and to protest the "theft" of water by influential farmers. Rattan Singh Randhawa of the Border Area Sangharsh Committee said: “It is painful to see farmers employ every means to procure a tube well connection because they are not getting canal water. The system should be repaired so that the farmers do not have to spend money on installing tube wells."A farmer has to spend around Rs 1.5 lakh on a tube well. Sorry state of affairs A number of canal distributaries in Amritsar and Tarn Taran have not received water for decades Farmers of several villages in Attari have started growing crops on the land where once the canal water flowed Farmers tilling land on the banks of the Ravi have installed pumps to draw groundwater, even as the river flows a km away The area under canal irrigation is shrinking, which is evident from the rising demand for tube well connections From 1970-71 to 2005-06, the number of tube wells in the state have increased from 0.19 million to 1.15 million