Land Colonization and Socio-political Change in District Multan: Project of Sidhnai Canal (1885-1900)

Abstract

Waste land utilization and Canal colonization were not only a tool to supplement revenue but also a mechanism of political control on local level .Once incorporate to settle down , nomads would be more agreeable to rule over. Powerful pastoral tribes of Multan and neighboring districts had caused a serious law and order problem. Those canal colonization policies were manipulated as power instrument of Colonial Control. District Multan is located on the East, North and West by the districts of Montgomery, Jhang Muzaffargarh and on the South by the Bahawalpur. The Sutlaj separated it from Bahawalpur and the Chenab from Muzaffargarh but Jhang and Montgomery had their boundary running for the most part through desert area. Chenab and Ravi both are flowing through Indian state of Himachel Pardesh enter in Jammu and Kashmir within the boundaries of Northern areas near the town of Jehlem. In 1898 eight more villages near the confluence of the Ravi and Chenab were absorbed with the object of facilitating certain extensions of the Sidhani canal system. Sidhnai is a flood control inundation canal link Trimmu-Sidhnai which transfer supplies from the Jehlem and Chenab to the Ravi River at Sadhnai Abdul Hakim Barrage. It provides irrigation to the agricultural of Khanawal and Multan Districts. Historians already had explored the history of the canal colonies at provincial level and there is a space as regional study, and therefore, this study was conducted to fill the research-gap in the existing historical literature. This research is based on primary sources of British Indian Libearay, Center of South Asian Studies, University of London UK and Civil Secteriat of Lahore. However, to analyze the data collected data, qualitative and quantitative methods have been applied to gauge the impact of the process of socio-political transformation in Sidnai Colony enforced through political control and land utilization of inundation canals.