Some soil-searching in Matheran section

Central Railway will plant local vegetation to prevent soil erosion and wildfires

The Central Railway (CR) has decided to plant grasses and trees to prevent landslides in the Matheran ghat section, along the railway track. Local species of grass and trees, including

Rock Banana

, Vetiver Grass/Khus grass, Wild Date Palm and

Karonda

(Carissa),.are being planted between Neral and Matheran.

Every year during the rainy season, landslides along the railway track not only cause huge losses but also hit the train operation in the ghat section. Neral and Aman Lodge sections witnessed major landslides at 21 locations recently.

“With the help of

Saguna Rural Foundation

, we are planting very special grasses, bushes and plants which stop erosion, resist the spreading of fire and provide support and strength to soil and boulders on the cliff. These plants have a high ability to survive in the drought,” said an officer of CR. The railways will spend only Rs 4 lakh, and the rest of the cost will be borne by the Saguna Rural Foundation.

According to experts, Wild Date Palm can survive without water, resists wildfire, takes moisture from leaves and adds excess moisture to the soil through roots.

Rock banana has the ability to withhold soil and rocks together. It stops erosion and also resists forest fire. The small fruit consists of many crunchy seeds making the fruit of no commercial interest, but seeds are considered to have medicinal properties.

Similarly,

Vetiver grass

is also very effective in preventing soil erosion. It can survive without irrigation, and cannot be destroyed by wildfire.

Chandrashekhar Bhadsavle, head of Saguna Rural Foundation, said this technique will help to control the wildfire along the track.

A senior officer of CR said, “Apart from the Matheran ghat section, we are also using this technique between Asangaon and Kasara section to prevent wildfires.”

“The onset of global warming has escalated the problem. The work of Saguna Rural Foundation deals with the aspects of soil and its strength, its relationship to the water drainage and flooding, the negative effects of wildfire on the soil profile, the importance of the optimum level of organic carbon in the soil adjoining to the rail track,” said Chandrashekhar Bhadsavle, who is heading the project.

“Our experience of several years confirms that the binding ability of the soil is destroyed by the high temperature at the surface of the land during the wildfire. Such soils start falling apart almost immediately after the fire. The following rainwater promotes water runoff and erosion making the whole ecosystem prone to landslides,” added Chandrashekhar Bhadsavle.

How it works
Preventing wildfire: This can be achieved with the basic

SVT

(Saguna Vansanvardhan Technique) technique where we kill the green grasses and annual weeds with the help of general-purpose weedicides during the rainy season. We convert the future inflammable material into food for earthworms eventually, the carbon is fixed into the form of humus.

Apart from the plantation of trees and grass, the railways are also using SVT to prevent forest fire without human intervention along the railway track between Asangaon to Kasara.

What is SVT
The Saguna Vanasanvardhan Technique has been pioneered by the Saguna Rural Foundation under the leadership of Krishiratna Chandrashekhar Bhadsavle.

This is a simple, low-cost and effective technique that stops wildfires by converting the inflammable dry grass into organic manure and fixing atmospheric carbon, promoting the natural production of earthworms and soil aggregation, completely stopping soil erosion, thereby initiating water infiltration, thus once again regenerating greenery and biodiversity on degraded lands. The unique feature of the technique is that it stops the wildfire without a human presence at the spot.

The land between Asanagaon and Kasara is mostly forest and fallow land. The area is known to receive rainfall between 2500 - 3700 mm rain in the rainy season. This is a perfect situation for the luxurious growth of grasses and seasonal weeds during the rainy season. After the monsoon, it dies and dries making it a highly inflammable (flash fuel bed) material.

Under this technique, weedicide is to be sprayed on both sides of the railway track with a width of 15 meters on each side. The walkways and the demarcation sprays will begin in the 3rd week of June. The major belts will be sprayed approximately in the third week of August when the grass is at the right physiological stage.

The third spray will be given approximately between the first and second weeks of October. Part of the longitudinal belt will be sprayed with selective pre-emergence weedicide to prevent the growth of winter weeds such as

Blumea Lacera

and Alternanthera Pavoniana. Thus a 15-metre treated belt on each side of the track will be completely free of inflammable material (grasses and annual weeds).

At the same time, extra efforts can be taken to plant evergreen bushes such as Karonda,

Phoenix Palm

,

Nirgudi

, Cliff Banana, and perennial grasses (Vetiver). Such plantations will be useful in many ways such as acting as an anti-fire

Greenwall

, stopping erosion and landslides, slowing down the storms, beautification and will provide nutritious berries which can be sold by local people at the stations.