East Midnapore takes up vetiver plantation

The East Midnapore district administration has taken up massive vetiver plantations along the river sides and in areas close to the seashore for embankment protection.

The district administration has set up ten nurseries after getting one lakh slips from Nadia district. The district now has a stock of 25 lakh vetiver slips. Ten Self Help Groups (SHG) are associated with the nurseries who are maintaining the vetiver slips. They are getting remuneration under the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA Scheme.

It may be recalled that Chief Minister Mamata Baerjee had named the project Sabujayan.

The East Midnapore district administration started the riverside and seashore area restoration work with vetiver in Khejuri Block under the supervision of the Block Development Officer. Rupnarayan, Haldi are the main rivers in the district and Digha, Mandarmani, Tajpur are the sea beaches in the district. Pranab Kumar Ghosh, the District Nodal Officer said: "We are trying to plant vetiver along the river sides for embankment stabilisation and also along sea beaches in combination with Casuarina and Keora natural plants in the area and getting positive results."

It may be mentioned that seashore plantation with vetiver grass is being done for the first time in the state in this district by utilising the natural plantation of Casuarinas and Keora in the area.

Vetiver grass is grown for many different purposes. The plant helps to stabilise soil and protects it against erosion. It can also protect fields against pests and weeds. Vetiver has favourable qualities for animal feed as well. From the roots, oil is extracted and used for cosmetics, aromatherapy, herbal skincare and ayurvedic soaps. Due to its fibrous property, the plant can also be used for handicrafts, ropes and more.

As a trial, Khejuri-II Development Block has already taken two schemes of vetiver plantation at Gorahar Jalpai under Janka Gram Panchayat and the second one at Boga under Nijkasba Gram Panchayat where the length of the scheme is one km each. East Midnapore collected the vetiver tillers from South India.

The East Midnapore district administration has also decided that the vetiver grass will be planted under MGNREGA Scheme in different embankments of the rivers of Kansai, Keleghai and Haldi as the embankment of these river are weak and may be flooded in the coming monsoon.