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Fly ash sparks green revolution

When a handful of volunteers armed with spades and shovels landed on a barren piece of land splattered with fly ash in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh, a few months ago, local people scoffed at their attempt to convert it into a lush agricultural land.

Today, the same crowd gazes in amazement at the transformation while queuing up to purchase fresh vegetables at throw-away prices.

The revolutionary transformation of the slush, fly ash-logged land in the backyard of the giant public sector National Thermal Power Corporation plant in Dadri was brought about through a ''cyclic system of development'' by a Bihar-based non-governmental organisation, the Chakriya Vikas Foundation.

The foundation was given 20 acres of barren land by the NTPC after last year's monsoon for ''integration of energy and environment'' and to make villagers around the plant self- sufficient in their agricultural needs.

Renowned horticultarist and technical co-ordinator for a World Bank-aided project in Uttar Pradesh, Prof R K Pathak said that local people's participation in accomplishing such an uphill task was commendable and observed that the project would soon herald a new era of development in the nearby villages.

About 1.4 million plants of poplar, teak, banana, papaya and bottle palms among others have been grown and the site managers plan to sell these plants to nearby villages where nurseries can be developed for generating income.

While a developing nursery of several million plants, the organisation went for sowing of vegetables as filler crop and to date, seasonal vegetables, produced through organic farming, have fetched Rs 84,000.

P R Mishra, who is spearheading the silent environmental movement, says that the degraded land had been regenerated through involvement of rural folks from nearby villages and benefits would be shared on a 30:30:30 basis among land owner, students (workers and planters) and the foundation. Ten per cent profit would be earmarked as developmental fund for nearby villages and other activities.

Septuagenarian Mishra, heading the foundation, had played a pivotal role in the regeneration of Sukhana lake when it had dried up more than two decades ago by taking largescale environmental activities near Sukhomajiri area.

Soon after the NTPC assigned the task to Mishra, a Chakriya Vikas Vidhayala, a school to promote cyclic development in nearby villages of the power plant, was established and teams comprising volunteers from Bihar and local inhabitants were formed to clear the degarded land of obnoxious weeds.

Dumped fly ash was used in pits dug out on the land for proper aeration of plants along with cow dung and local volunteers were engaged to work with the foundation.

Social science experts Shyam Kumar Sharma and Sanjay Kumar say that inhabitants of 22 villages, whose land was acquired by the power plant authorities, had also learnt to make optimum use of their small land holdings for maximum returns.

Chakiya Vikas Pranali (system) leader P N Shukla said that, based on the pilot project, agriculture development would be carried out in nearby villages shortly. Plans are afoot to develop mother nurseries of valuable species.

Each local person and trainer from Bihar is being paid a token amount every day for their contribution by the foundation. Each one of them is known as 'vidyarthi'.

Aarun 'vidyarthi' said in jest that they ''tasted the fruits of their labour'' first when hostile villagers started calling them sabji wale (vegetable vendors) but later they slowly evinced interest in the experiment which was being carried out for the first time in western Uttar Pradesh.

Now, both villagers and housewives of NTPC officials flock at the make-shift market inside the fields every morning to buy fresh vegetables.

Emboldened by their success of growing million of plants, the CVP people are teaming up with villagers to sell pickles in polythene bags. Two quintals of pickles of radish have already been sold at the rate of Rs 6 per kg.

Another organisation, Pragya Gramin Vikas Sansthan, has also joined hands with the project people to start honey bee-keeping. Several wooden boxes, filled with swarms of honey bees, have been installed on the boundaries of the fields and honey bottles have also hit the thatched market.

NTPC officials say that plantation had been carried out around the railway tracks too, adding, ''We feel that the entire CVP concept will promote other villages towards self-reliance by sustainable growth''.

The CVP, according to them, is a process to optimise the use of natural resources for sustainable economic growth.

UNI