WATER FOR SIND

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 11538, 15 January 1932, Page 5

WATER FOR SIND

SEVEN HUGE CANALS

WORLD’S LARGEST IRRIGATION SYSTEM OPENED.

EIGHT YEARS’ WORK COMPLETED.

(British Official Wirelessi-

RUGBY, Jan. 13

A memorable event in Indian history took place to-day when the Viceroy, Lord Willingdon, opened the world’s largest irrigation system, the Lloyd barrage in Sukkar, with seven huge canals, by which a sun-parched area as large as England will be turned into agricultural land.

i Tlio whole province of Sind is practically rainless, so that A supply of water front' the river which flows ’ through its length is absolutely vital to most of its 3,500,000 inhabitants.

One of the most notable achievements of the British in India, and one-most often overlooked) yis jthe conversion by irrigation of waste lands in fruitful lands. The present scheme occupied eight years. The Lloyd Barrage is several miles long and has several arches each 90ft wide. Tho waters of tho rivet, flowing from the Himalayas into the sea, will he harnessed to supply the rich soil of the 'province by. 7000 miles of canals, some of them wider than the Suez Canal, with private channels serving .35,000 miles. The scheme makes possible the cultivation of 6,000,000 acres, and the estimated value of the crops produced from the land will approach £30,000,000. The cost of the scheme is approximately £15,000,000.

The barrage is named alter Lord Lloyd, a former Governor of Bombay, The scheme was mooted nearly a century ago, after the Sind district had been conquered by British troops, but not till after the Great "War was it sanctioned.