Canals, Colonies And Class: British Policy In The Punjab 1880-1940

Pages: 317

Category: English Books

This book tells the story of how British colonies doabas of Punjab through canal colonies

Further attempts at colonization were not made till the 1880s when a clearly defined colonization policy was developed. The process began in 1886 with the extension of the older inundation canals. The first irrigated areas to be colonized were those served by the two Sutlej inundation canals, the Upper and Lower Sohag-Para, which irrigated the eastern part of Montgomery district. The Sohag-Para Colony covered 86,315 acres of government land. There were further extensions to this scheme in 1906 and it was finally amalgamated into the Sutlej Valley Project in 1924.
At the same time, the Sidhnai Canal was used in colonizing 175,702 acres of wasteland in the Multan district, More than half the area of the Sidhnai Colony consisted of government or Crown land. The Lower Chenab Canal gave rise to the Chenab Colony, 101 Colonization began in 1892 with the completion of the Khanki headworks on the river Chenab and the construction of the main canal branches, which assured permanent supplies of water. Although the original intention was to colonies and irrigate the central bar areas of the Lower Rechna Doab, where the water-table was below 40 feet and covered an area of 2,544,133 acres (all of which was government wasteland), it was decided to extend irrigation first to the area between the river and the bar (40,000 acres), where the conditions of the existing cultivation were precarious.
Another consideration at this point was that labour would have been attracted to the canal-irrigated bar land, thereby leading to decreased production in the other parts, 102 The first major allotments of land were made between 1892 and 1896 and from 1904 to 1906 on the Jhang and Gugera branches. These branches were extended between 1924 and 1929, leading to the colonisation of additional areas. By 1930, a total of 1.9 million acres had been allotted to settlers, with large areas remaining allotted under temporary conditions.
The Chunian Colony was formed between 1894 and 1904. In 1892, the question of extending irrigation from the tail of the Upper Bari Doab Canal to some Lahore district rakhs (scrub forests) was considered. When, in 1894, it was ascertained that more than 15,000 acres of Crown wasteland could be commanded by these extensions in the Chunian tehsil and profitability assured, the scheme was implemented despite there being a shortage of water for the extensions. 103
In 1902, colonization work began on 1,531,000 acres of land in the Shahpur district served by the Lower Jhelum Canal. Of this area, only 437,751 acres were owned by the government. The history of this scheme went back to 1847 when it was originally suggested, but it received serious consideration only in 1897. Even then, changes were effected and the scope of the colony extended considerably. Its originality lay in the fact that it was almost entirely devoted to horse breeding. 104 Major allotments of colony land were completed within four years, with some minor ones being made as late as 1930.
About the same time, the Jhang Colony was formed. Allotment began in 1905; by 1909, 18,000 acres of land had been distributed to colonists. As most of the area was not commanded by canals and was unculturable, it was resumed so that, by the end of 1919, only 9,000 acres had been allotted. This increased to 14,560 acres by 1929. The area of the Jhang Colony was only administered like a colony, otherwise
neither the foundation of towns or markets under government control nor the mere distribution of a small area of government lands to neighbouring zamindars has per se anything to do with colonisation. The chaks [blocks of land] in which settlers have been located are composed of government waste and privately owned land intermixed, 105
The next phase, aimed at colonising the Lower Bari Doab, envisaged the formation of three colonies based on the construction of three separate but interlinked canals. The Triple Canal Project (as it was called) gave rise to the Upper Jhelum Canal Colony, comprising 350,000 acres of land in Gujrat district; the Upper Chenab Canal Colony, covering more than 500,000 acres in the districts of Gujranwala and Sheikhupura; and the Lower Bari Doab Canal Colony, which extended over 2,600 square miles of practically uncultivated wasteland in the Okara, Montgomery and Khanewal tehsils of the Montgomery and Multan districts. The Lower Bari Doab Canal Colony was by far the largest colony to be formed and included 1,450,000 acres of Crown wasteland. Allotments of colony land began in 1913 and carried on intermittently till 1930.
The Upper Chenab Canal Colony had an irrigable area of 600,000 acres, but of this, only 80,000 acres were government wasteland, also in scattered pieces. The allotment of land began in 1915, and by 1920, 64,846 acres of Crown waste had been allotted. Of this, nearly half was to get water only in the kharif season and for just 25 percent of the irrigable area. The Upper  Jhelum Canal Colony had an irrigable area of 322,000 acres, of which only 43,000 acres were Crown waste, all of it located in the Phalia tehsil of Gujrat district. Colonization began in 1905 and continued till 1915 when it was found that the actual area available for allotment was less than originally expected. The scheme of allotment was changed in 1917 and finally completed by 1921. The immensity of the triple colonies can be gauged from the fact that the total area commanded by the canals was 45 million acres, of which almost 4 million acres were irrigated. 106
The last colony to be formed was the Nili Bar Colony, connected with the conversion of some of the Sutlej inundation canals into perennial ones under the Sutlej Valley Project. A distinctive feature of the colonization scheme was that, unlike previous schemes, a very large proportion of land was to be sold by auction. 107 Allotments of colony land began in 1926 and were completed by 1931.
The colonies retained a separate status until they were amalgamated with the districts of which they were a part. As colonies, they were administered by the colony officer whose appointment under the Government Tenants (Punjab) Act III of 1893 gave him and his assistant the grade of deputy commissioner. Both fell directly under the settlement commissioner in status. The colonization officer was an influential figure, empowered to deal independently with all matters pertaining to the colony, such as irrigation, agriculture, cooperatives, banking, the police, public health, buildings and roads, 108 As soon as a large part of the colony area had been allotted and the district administration was able to cope with the larger population and cultivated area now within its boundaries.