Indira Gandhi Canal

The Indira Gandhi Canal is one of the biggest canal projects in India. It starts from the Harike Barrage at Sultanpur, a few kilometers below the confluence of the Sutlej and Beas rivers in Punjab state. Irrigation facilities to the north-western region of Rajasthan, a part of the Thar Desert.

It consists of the Rajasthan feeder canal (with the first 167 km in Punjab and Haryana and the remaining 37 km in Rajasthan) and 445 km of the Rajasthan main canal which is entirely within Rajasthan. The IGNP traverses seven districts of Rajasthan: Barmer, Bikaner, Churu, Hanumangarh, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, and Sriganganagar.

Sand dune stabilization

The Indira Gandhi Canal is a major step in reclaiming the Thar Desert and checking desertification of fertile areas. There is a planting programme for greening the desert in areas near the Indira Gandhi Canal which was started in 1965. This consists of the planting of shelter belts along roads and canals, blocks of plantations and sand dune stabilization. The tree species being used for planting are Dalbergia sissoo, Eucalyptus terticornis, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Morus alba, Tecomella undulata, Acacia tortilis, Azadirachta indica, Albizia lebbeck, Cassia fistula, Popular ciliata, Melia azedarch, and Acacia nilotica.