RAS question
The main canal of IGNP from Masitawali to Mohangarh is how long?
Correct answer: (D) 445 km.
The Indira Gandhi Main Canal from Masitawali to near Mohangarh is about 445 km long.
Explanation
The full Masitawali-to-Mohangarh reach is the Indira Gandhi Main Canal, not just one stage of it. The cited Rajasthan government PDF says that a 445 km Indira Gandhi Main Canal starts from the tail of the Indira Gandhi Feeder, passes through Sri Ganganagar and Bikaner, and ends at Mohangarh in Jaisalmer. It also separates the project into stages: Stage I includes the feeder plus 189 km of the main canal up to Pugal, while Stage II adds 256 km of main canal from Pugal to Mohangarh. Therefore, 189 km and 256 km are stage-wise pieces; the complete main-canal length asked in the question is about 445 km.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) 189 km is only the Stage-I main-canal reach up to Pugal, not the full Masitawali-to-Mohangarh main canal.
- (B) 256 km is the Stage-II main-canal length from Pugal to Mohangarh, so it omits the Stage-I reach from Masitawali to Pugal.
- (C) 204 km refers to the Indira Gandhi Feeder from Harike, not the Indira Gandhi Main Canal from Masitawali to Mohangarh.
Concept
This tests Rajasthan irrigation geography, especially the structure and stage-wise lengths of the Indira Gandhi Nahar Project. RAS often asks such canal questions because western Rajasthan's irrigation and drinking-water geography depends heavily on IGNP.