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The greening of Aravali: EU offers additional grant, extends project

Vinod Behl in New Delhi

The Haryana government's ambitious Aravali Project aimed at the rehabilitation of common lands and greening of the Aravali hill ranges in the districts of Gurgaon, Faridabad, Rewari, Manhendergarh and Bhiwandi with a Rs 288 million grant from the European Union has won appreciation from the international funding agency.

Following a special evaluation of the project, the EU found that the targets in its eight-year (1990-1998) period have been met. So it has extended this model environmental project for two more years. The project which was to expire in March 1998 will now be operational till March 2000 and an additional grant of Rs 200 million has been provided by the EU for this purpose.

J P L Srivastava, director of the project, said, ''It is a unique experiment in restoring greenery over brown, barren hills.''

Satellite imageries taken by Haryana Remote Sensing Application Centre have revealed that the dense forest cover, which was nearly 2201 hectares in 1990, increased to 28,887 hectares in 1997, registering an increase of 1,212 per cent.

The total green cover increased from 9451 ha to 41022 ha, showing an increase of 334 per cent.

It is only in rare cases that the EU provides contingency funds for projects beyond their stipulated duration, Srivastava said. The additional grant will be utilised to consolidate earlier gains besides focusing on income-generating activities in order to reduce dependence on community land.

''Based on the study by the Asian Society for Entrepreneurship Education and Development, we will encourage dairy development, floriculture, horticulture, pottery, carpet- and dhurry-weaving, candle-making and pickle-making by forming self-help groups of villagers.''

The Haryana government has got another grant of Rs 1.26 billion from the European Union for launching group forestry on community land in the state. The project has been hanging fire for the last few years.

The government has recently launched the project. Initially, 300 villages have been selected for the project to be completed in nine years.

Once rich in flora and fauna, Aravali Hills were devoid of vegetation when the project to increase forest cover was launched in 1990. More than 294 villages with a population of 825,000 and livestock of 500,000 were targeted.

The project was taken up with the immediate objective of saving 33,000 ha of common land with community participation and to meet fuelwood and fodder requirements in an ecologically sustainable manner. The long-term objective was restoration of environment and productivity of the land.

The project adopted a holistic approach and took several innovative routes like remote sensing applications, plantation by trench-cum-pit method ensuring better soil and water conservation, diversification of species and provision of nutritious fodder and fuel wood by singling-pruning operations.

The project was marked by people's participation and incentive schemes. Since women are the main users of common lands, the project involved them in the activities. A special Women in Development programme aimed at their empowerment and strengthening their socio-economic position.

The project generated about 12.05 million labour days, 36.5 per cent of which were put in by women. In all, 37,050 were saved. The rehabilitation enhanced wildlife habitat, arrested soil erosion and improved the water regime.

Srivastava said his department is preparing a blue-print for a Rs 1.5 billion project aimed at the overall development of community in the Aravali belt. The funds for this ten-year project spanning years 2000 to 2010, will be tapped by the Haryana government from the European Union and other international donor agencies.