M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, Mar 29: Mango plantation under Birsa Harit Gram Yojna (BHGY) is still in the trial and error phase in Palamu.
A late starter for multiple reasons in Palamu, this scheme needs a concerted effort to keep it alive and growing.
At village It-Hay under Juru panchayat of Nilambar Pitambarpur block, Deputy Development Commissioner Megha Bhardwaj was told of the ‘death and decay’ of as many as 75 mango saplings.
“Ishwari Singh, Parvati Devi, Seema Devi, Anita Devi and Anandi Devi etc narrated how their mango saplings decayed,” said the project officer Upendra Ram who was accompanying the DDC during her inspection of the mango plantation at It Hay village.
The growers complained about fragile mango saplings provided to them but what they did not tell was that their care and management too were lacking. They left the saplings to fend for themselves.
There were weeds around. The very look of the mango plantation was of gross neglect and disinterestedness on the part of the growers.
There are two prerequisites to the mango plantation under the BHGY. First is the cattle proof trench. It is done to restrict the invasion of the animals.
Upendra Kumar said there was no cattle proof trench at the It-Hay mango plantation site. DDC Megha Bhardwaj took serious umbrage at the non-existing cattle proof trench and questioned the wisdom of the growers as to how they hope to have healthy mango trees if first, they are fragile and then there is nothing to protect them from the animals.
DDC Megha Bhardwaj had told lagatar24.com the other day that animals like nilgais and wild boars are ransacking mango plantations in many parts of Palamu. She termed their menace as most terrible.
She was told of one more invasion of the animal. It is langur. Mango growers of this Yojna of Hurlong village are being put to loss of their mango saplings by the langurs.
Langurs try to sit on the top of the saplings which are already not strong enough to bear their weight and as a result, the saplings get bent over badly, said one grower of Hurlong.
The second prerequisite for the BHGY is to have a Jal Kund. It is an earthen surface water management where the rainwater is preserved as ‘stand by water’ to water mango saplings and also intercropping like that of timber fodder etc.
Upendra Ram said there was no Jal Kund at the mango plantation at village It Hay. He said the DDC was too displeased not to find Jal Kund there.
One Jal Kund is for 10 saplings and by this account, a grower is expected to have at least 11 Jal Kunds for his 112 mango saplings in one acre of its plantation.
A grower of mango under this Yojna Nagender Ram of Hurlong village said wages under MGNREGA come very late. The wages are for digging the pits, raising of the indigenous CPT, Jal Kund etc where there is a similar ticklish formality of the MGNREGA which one finds in schemes of multi lakh check dams etc.
“Jal Kund is to have a polythene sheet to prevent rainwater from percolating down to the earth but its poor quality defeats the very purpose of retention of surface water for any longer period,” said the grower Nagender Ram.