Chambal In The Making

Soil erosion has triggered expansion of ravines in four districts of Gujarat, threatening agriculture and livelihood

- Shagun Kapil Kheda

The Ravines have always been there, lining the riverbank, but after the floods in 1973 they started expanding towards the village,” says 73-year-old Chaggan Bhoi of Sarnal village in Gujarat’s Kheda district. The village is barely a kilometre from the Mahi river in central Gujarat. “That year, it rained for 24 straight days and the water from the river entered the village, forming a maze of streams. Since then, massive soil erosion has happened, mostly on the periphery of the village. Residents fear that if left unchecked, the ravines would swallow the village and they might have to migrate,” Bhoi adds.

Kheda is one of Gujarat’s four districts—Panchmahal, Vadodara and Anand being the others—severly affected by expanding ravines (see ‘Unchecked spread’). This monsoon season, the region saw heavy rainfall due to which new ravines have been formed in Khadol, Gadia and Rania villages of Kheda and Nani Sherdi of Anand. In last four to five decades, ravines have increased by 60-70 per cent in the four districts, estimates Satish Macwan of Foundation for Ecological Security (FES), an Anand-based non-profit working to check soil erosion. “Nearly 30,000 hectares (ha) is currently affected by extreme land degradation and ‘ravination’ and the rate is increasing. A decade ago, the figure was 20,000 ha. Every year, there is a loss of about 0.58 million tonnes of soil due to erosion,” Macwan adds.