The Bist Doab canal, which has the capacity of irrigating over 4.50 lakh acres of agricultural land of Doaba region, is being under-utilised by nearly one-sixth of its capacity forcing the farmers to increasingly depend on underground water. The canal and its distributaries have got choked due to poor maintenance over the decades, reducing its water carrying capacity. With no other choice, farmers have installed tubewells in large number to irrigate their crops, which has led to increased pressure on the water table. Even water courses to farmers