LAHORE: Desiltation campaign for Rabi 2018-19 in Punjab starts from Wednesday (today) as per the schedule issued by the Irrigation Department.

During the campaign a total of 620 perennial and non-perennial (4184 canal miles) water channels will be cleared of silt, says Irrigation Minister Mohsin Khan Leghari.

The first phase of the campaign will start from Dec 26 and will continue till Jan 30 in the perennial canals of the system.

In this phase, a total of 2194 miles of 316 perennial canals of the irrigation system will be desilted.

Works on Mangla command canals are scheduled from Dec 26 to Jan 16, whereas on Tarbela command canals from Jan 13 to Jan 30.

The minister says the second phase of the desiltation campaign will be launched in March and will continue till April 15 on selected non-perennial channels of the irrigation system.

During this phase, at least 304 non–perennial channels spread throughout the system will be desilted.

The minister says he has issued instructions to all field formations of the irrigation department for ensuring quality of the desiltation works on all the channels.

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2018