Statements I, II, III and IV for Development Programme for the Year 1962-63 Government of Gujarat

Abstract

Kotar menace in Gujarat has assumed alarming proportions. Kotar approximately covering 10 lakhs of acres exist mainly on the banks of Watrak, Mahi, Meshwa, Banas, Saraswati and Sabarmati rivers. The banks of these rivers are fretted with Kotar which extend far back into the cultivated fields. As a result of this vast expanses of deep rich lands of exceptional productivity have been converted into valueless area, there by depriving the local cultivators of valuable fertile cultivated fields and also reducing at the same time the food production in the country. These Kotar areas are now left to the ravages of the climate and the local people who graze their animals incessantly and thereby progressively devouring more and more of the fertile fields bordering the Kotar. In order therefore not only to prevent the agricultural fields from being destroyed but also to reclaim the existing unproductive Kotar lands and to make them productive to the maximum possible extent with the help of suitable soil conservation measures, this scheme of Kotar reclamation has been conceived and formulated.