Malin farmers give up ‘padkai’ farming that triggered disaster in 2014 | Pune News
PUNE: One of the prime reasons Geological Survey Of India for the devastating landslide in Malin was attributed to the ‘padkai’ farming that villagers extensively practised. The disaster on July 30, 2014 claimed 151 lives.
‘Padkai’ is a tribal practice involving the creation of small beds by cutting into, scooping out and flattening the hillsides for paddy cultivation.But, over the years and after the disaster, farmers have given up this form of farming.
District agriculture officer Sanjay Kachole told TOI, “The scheme is on the verge of closure due to almost no response from tribal farmers in Ambegaon and Junnar tehsils in the past few years. Despite implementing changes after the Malin landslide, the scheme has failed to attract the same level of participation as it did before.” Govt halted the scheme for a few years before relaunching it with changes in 2020.
Before the landslide, farmers would use earth movers to flatten the hill slopes above their houses, causing rainwater to saturate the hills. After three days of heavy rainfall in 2014, the entire slope collapsed and buried the Malin.
“Farmers were barred from using earth movers in any form of development work under the scheme and told to get it done through labourers. It slowed down farm work. Gradually, applications under the programme have significantly reduced,” Kachole added.
Ambegaon agriculture office gets 50 applications annually against the hundreds a few year s ago, the officials added.
Farmer Vijay Lembhe, who lost his father in the Malin landslide, said, “Flattening of the hill slopes was going on a massive scale before 2014. Many farmers used earth movers unmindfully. Had that rate of work 10 years ago sustained, many hills would have been destroyed by now. It was the right decision to scale down ‘padkai’ operations.”
Shekhar Sarkar, GSI’s former deputy director-general (landslide), said padkai implementati on was not scientific when they surveyed Malin and the surrounding villages after the disaster in 2014.
“If the selection of slopes and cutting is not scientific, it changes several aspects geographically that are not visible. Understanding the early symptoms of landslides is necessary. It could be in the form of cracks, falling of loose boulders, water seeping through the ground etc,” he added.
Another geologist, who surveyed Malin and the surrounding villages in 2014-15, said saturation of rainwater could be dangerous for hamlets below the slopes.
“The authorities, including experts and academicians, must cre ate awareness among villagers in landslide-prone villages in the state. It took the Malin landslide for people in the surrounding villages stopped cutting into the hills. Before that, the activi ty was happening on a massive scale. Had the tragedy not struck, hill cutting would have reached another level,” said a geologist on the condition of anonymity.
A practice that spelled doom in ambegaon
- Padkai was included in the list of works in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in Ambegaon tehsil in 2010
- The scheme creates planting beds for tribal farmers and gives employment in summer
- The district agriculture department did not pay enough attention to this illegal practice
- But it came to the fore when the Malin tragedy struck
Govt stopped the scheme immediately when geologists pointed to the faulty implementation of padkai in Malin and surrounding villages over the years
What happens now
- If a farmer wants a particular plot flattened for tilling, staff from the tehsil agriculture office will visit, consider the geographical aspects and prepare a report after which the agriculture officer will issue the work order
- They take into account experts’ reports before sanctioning work
- If a farmer violates the norms, he will not get the benefits
- Before the Malin landslide, farmers used earth movers to flatten the hill slopes
- Tehsil agriculture office would get hundreds of applications for the scheme which has reduced to 40-50
- Agriculture department has banned use of earth movers to flatten the slopes
- Anyone violating the order will not get financial benefits of the scheme
- Hence, villagers have not opted for the scheme that applies to 56 hamlets
