ABSTRACT
In this paper, Lieutenant Morton, Superintendent of the 144-mile Eastern Jumna Canal, draws upon his experience to advocate use of the rajbuha system on the 900-mile Ganges Canal scheme, which at the time was nearing completion. The Eastern Jumna Canal, which had been constructed by Mughal engineers but had fallen into disrepair, was restored by the British and reopened in 1830 with high expectations of increases in the productivity of the northern districts of Meerut that it irrigated. The methods of distributing the water supply over the land, however, were left to local cultivators and zamindars, leading to widespread abuse. Canal banks were breached, and colabas (wooden cylinders for drawing water) used freely, as a result of which damage and daily loss of water was great. To overcome this, Colonel Cautley, Superintendent of Canals, devised a scheme of distribution based on rajbuhas, that is, smaller branch canals or watercourses running along either side of the main canal, which fed water to irrigation tracts. No private watercourses were permitted. The rajbuha scheme was adopted for the Ganges Canal, and for the first time money to meet the massive bill of over £3 million was raised from private loans in London.
