Buckingham Canal

[timmy]

The historic Buckingham Canal served as a water way for many years but it gradually lost its importance and gone down in history due to vision less leaders . Buckingham Canal was built in 19 th century and this canal was used for business purposes but a noble cause was also present behind its construction . The British constructed this canal as a part of famine relief work to help the people suffering from famine during those days . Now with the state and central Governments showing interest to revamp the canal is giving new hopes over water ways .

[timmy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONVvaC1KeIk

[posaanisam]

bookmarked..

will add more info 

:4_12_13: 

[ARYA]

ippudu denini kulli kaluva la chesearanta ga...mana degagra edi sarrigga maintain cheyyaru :(

[posaanisam]

ippudu denini kulli kaluva la chesearanta ga...mana degagra edi sarrigga maintain cheyyaru :(

asalu water ee ledu ga.. mottam dry aipoinid..

konni chotla aite kabja kuda chesesaru 

[ARYA]

asalu water ee ledu ga.. mottam dry aipoinid..

konni chotla aite kabja kuda chesesaru 

G pal d gali edavvalni

[timmy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s80YkqzS9Ss

[timmy]

An 1895 picture of a passenger/ inspection boat on the Buckingham Canal in Andhra Pradesh

[timmy]

“Yes,” with a few exclamation marks following it was the emphatic response by S. Satyanidhi Rao to my question (Miscellany, October 7) whether there was a regular passenger service on the Buckingham Canal at one time. Rao, who was the with the Salt Department and had for years served alongside the Canal, supports his contention with the 1895 picture I feature today which is from a classic in his collection, History of the Buckingham Canal Project by A.S. Russell, Executive Engineer, Madras PWD, published in 1898. With this close-up taken at Tummalapenta, near Kavali in Nellore District, and a couple of others showing such boats in ‘Madras Basin’ and Kothapatnam, near Ongole, there is no doubt that special passenger craft (and inspection vessels, one of which this might well be) plied in the Canal.

Adding substance to these pictorial references of such usage is the number of resthouses, on the banks of the Canal between ‘Pedda-Ganjam’ and ‘Mercanum’, listed in the book. These were, no doubt, like the dak bungalows of yesteryears, meant for officials, sahibs and those considered brown sahibs by the resthouse keeper. Wharves in Madras included, from north to south, Madras Basin, Elephant Gate, Trevelyan Basin and Adyar South Lock.

The history reveals that by 1882 the Canal stretched 420 km from Pedda-Ganjam to Mercanum and was a “principal means of communication, both for passengers and goods.” To stress its importance are statistics in the history that reveal that in 1895-96 about 325,000 tons of goods valued at a bit over Rs. 25 million were carried on the canal in about 1,600 boats of around 22,000 tonnage! What an opportunity we are missing, not reviving usage of what was one of the finest canal systems in the world!

Adding to what Satyanidhi Rao has pointed out, K.R.A. Narasiah refers me to the 1961 Madras City Census (of India) Report. As late as 1960-61, after the separation of Andhra, 190,000 tons of goods valued at Rs.18.5 million were carried in 1,200 or so boats in Madras State alone. Passenger traffic declined from a little over 26,000 persons to 19,000 between 1956-57 and 1960-61, still noteworthy numbers. It was the cyclone of 1965-66 that decided the fate of the Canal, according to my correspondent. But that does not mean revival is not possible.

[timmy]

Buckingham canal buffered tsunami fury

 

 

The canal regulated the killer waves on the coastal region from Pedda Ganjam to Chennai

 

 

 

 

 

 
UNSUNG HERO: The canal helped save the lives of several fishermen living in coastal Andhra Pradesh and Chennai — Photo: K. MANIKANDAN

 

HERE IS an example of the outcast zero turning hero — one saving lives while the Page Three gentry was wringing hands in despair. The much-neglected and abused Buckingham canal rose to the occasion and stood up to the fury of the December 26 tsunami on the Coromandel coast.

In a notable paper in the 10 July issue of the journal Current Science, Dr. B. Ramalingeswara Rao of the National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad reports on how this canal saved the lives of thousands of fishermen living on the Andhra coast of the Bay of Bengal.

Lives saved

 

He writes: "The recent tsunami did not engulf their houses or huts at elevated patches, because the tsunami waves drifted away towards the existing low-lying creeks at several places. Thus, the Buckingham canal acted as a buffer zone and regulated the tsunami waves on the coastal region over nearly 310 km from Pedda Ganjam to Chennai.

The canal ... all along the east coast was filled with tsunami water, which overflowed at a few places and receded back to sea within 10-15 min. This helped save the lives of several fishermen, especially in coastal Andhra Pradesh and parts of Chennai city and also helped in clearing of the aquaculture debris. The natural growth of vegetation on either side of the canal ... has had an effect in tsunami mitigation; for example in Vakadu Mandal at villages like Pudikappam, Srinivasapuram and Tudipalem, the damages were minimal".

Thank you, Buckingham Canal! This, of course, is not the first time you have come to the rescue of people!

Great traffic route

 

Readers might recall that it was built as a salt water navigation canal by the colonials in 1806, first from Chennai to Ennore, then extended north 40 km to Pulicat Lake. Taken over by the government of Madras Presidency in 1837, it was extended north by 315 km along the Coromandel Coast to Peddaganjam, on the Krishna river in Andhra Pradesh, and also extended 103 km south of Chennai to Marakkanam, north of Pondicherry. Running about 1 km back along the coastline, it was an excellent traffic route, ferrying goods and people up and down the coast. Mr. V. Sundaram writes in the 23 April issue of News Today on how it helped feed thousands of people, in Madras and elsewhere, during a severe famine that ravaged south India between 1876 and 1878.

It was the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos (a descendant of Britain's William the Conqueror), who as Governor of Madras in 1875, ordered to bring 500,000 bags of rice from Orissa to Madras using the canal.

In order to do so, it was he who got the canal extended by 267 miles from Peddaganjam down to Marakkanam, spending a sum of 30 lakh rupees (22 of which went for labour alone). Hence the name Buckingham canal.

Incidentally, this was not the only inland waterway that the British built in India. Canals in the Yamuna, Ganges and Indus valleys were built, making the Indus Valley the largest irrigated land area in the world.

The canals in the Punjab led this region to become the granary of India.

The Rohilkhand Four System canals in the Terai region, the 755 mile-long Agra Irrigation Works, the canals around the mouths of Kaveri, Krishna and Godavari, the Mahanandi canals at Cuttack and the Hoogly river canals down Calcutta are all the gifts of the Raj. (I use the word gifts with circumspection, being reminded of the reaction to Prime Minister Singh's speech at Oxford).

From 1880 until 1940, the Buckingham canal served as a beautiful waterway for cheap passenger and cargo traffic. After 1947, its use declined until it was stopped in 1965 following the cyclone damage of moorings within Madras.

Trade virtually ceased after the 1976 cyclone. Today, it has turned into a drainage canal, carrying deadly and toxic effluents, a pathetic and insulting legacy of the dream child of the Duke of Buckingham, as Gautam Ghosh describes in the 17 December 2001 issue of The Hindu. Just a few meaningful and committed steps by the government can set things right. Let us hope the heroic role played by this Cinderella of our canals might wake the authorities up. A few hundred crores of Rupees can revitalise the stinking sewerage way into a pleasant navigation route for people and produce in these energy-stricken days.

Dr. Ramalingeswara Rao writes further in his Current Science paper that casuarinas, mangroves and coconut plantations along the coast too helped save thousands of fisherman.

Indeed the role of mangroves in saving the coastline, promoting marine biodiversity and protecting against tsunamis, cyclones and related furies of nature has been highlighted by the sustained efforts of the Swaminathan Research Foundation.

Mangroves as shields

 

Dr. Swaminathan has pointed out how mangroves acted as shields, attenuating and even stopping the onslaught of the December tsunami.

The recent deluge of Mumbai brought home the direct consequences of having destroyed mangroves and coastal vegetation in the name of reclamation. Will we learn a lesson at least now, and renew mangroves? That would be the best 80th birthday gift we can give Dr. Monkombu Sambasivan Swaminathan.

[timmy]

[timmy]

WHAT: During Brit raj a 400 odd km canal was constructed between kakinada and villupuram (TN) connecting Madras sea port. It is a salt water canal parallel to the coast. 

WHY: To reduce any kind of tsunami or cyclone damage along coastal AP

WHO : Built by duke of Buckingham

WHEN : 1870's

PURPOSE : To transport goods between kakinada and Madras

USAGE : It acted as a barrier and reduced cyclones of 1965 and 1976. During 2004 tsunami it protected the coast from pedda ganjam to Madras in reducing the severity of waves and saved the lives of hundreds of fishermen. Entire canal was flooded and the water receded in 10-15 minutes.

ROUTE : Kakinada canal -> Eluru canal -> Commamur -> Krishna river -> North Buckingham canal Ongole -> Durga raya patnam Nellore -> Tada Nellore -> Basin bridge -> South Buckingham canal -> Madras


Pics
====

 

SOURCE: NFDB