Gardens & Plantations, Disposal of Grass & Other Natural Products PDF

GARDENS & PLANTATIONS, DISPOSAL OF GRASS AND OTHER NATURAL PRODUCTS CHAPTER VII 704 Planting and Care of Young Trees GARDENS & a) Sites for plantation should be so PLANTATIONS, DISPOSAL...

GARDENS & PLANTATIONS, DISPOSAL OF GRASS AND OTHER NATURAL PRODUCTS CHAPTER VII 704 Planting and Care of Young Trees GARDENS & a) Sites for plantation should be so PLANTATIONS, DISPOSAL selected that when the trees grow up they do OF GRASS AND OTHER NATURAL not interfere with telegraph wires or obstruct the view around curves or of station signals PRODUCTS or of level crossings. Before planting, a pit normally of size ½ A. GARDENS AND PLANTATIONS sq.m and 1 metre deep should be dug, the soil broken up and the pit well watered. The 701 Role of Engineering Staff - earth removed from the pit should then be mixed with a mortar-panfull of manure and the The Engineering Department is mixture replaced in the pit and "flooded" with responsible for tree plantation and water. maintenance of horticulture in common areas in stations, colonies, offices, community parks When planting, it should be seen that the etc. Staff of other departments should also roots are not exposed to sun more than be encouraged to associate in these activities. necessary. Water should be fed to the young tree daily until it is strongly rooted, the top 702 Planning for Plantation surface of the soil being broken up about once a week. At way side stations where For systematic plantation, each Division Engineering staff is not posted, daily watering should prepare 'tree planting plan' for every may be entrusted to station staff. subdivision and plantation work should be carried out accordingly. On all construction b) Soon after planting, the young tree projects, bulk afforestation of suitable variety should be supported firmly with a strong and should be done in vacant land as an straight bamboo or stake about 3 metres in environmental improvement measure. height and the trunk tied to the stake by means Provision for this should be invariably made of a cord over sackcloth. A tree-guard or in the estimate. For new colonies/townships, protection should be fixed around it. assistance of specialised agencies may be taken for landscaping. The tops should be allowed to grow up to a height of 3 metres. When side shoots 703 Nursery appear, four or five strong ones should be saved at different levels on the trunk above Nurseries wherever feasible may be the 3m stake (to prevent forking). When the maintained to cater to the requirements of the top leaders have grown fully they should be railway establishments. The resources of pruned moderately to cause them to branch Forest Department and nurseries in the public/ out and produce a bushy top. private sector may be tapped to meet the requirements of the railway. The tree-guard should be removed when the tree has been firmly established and there 168  GARDENS & PLANTATIONS, DISPOSAL OF GRASS AND OTHER NATURAL PRODUCTS is no risk of molestation by goats or cattle. rest house compounds and upkeep of gardens. Shrubs and seedlings should be obtained when c) Tree-guards may be made required from the divisional/district nursery. economically from thorns or bricks; old bitumen drums with holes punched in them B.GARDENS IN OFFICERS' could be used with advantage where the hot BUNGALOWSAND SENIOR weather is not too intense, otherwise they SUPERVISORS' QUARTERS retain heat and shrivel up the young plants. 706 Maintenance 705 Maintenance of Gardens in Offices, Rest Houses and Colonies Railway premises occupied by Officers and Senior Supervisors should be kept in a (a) The responsibility of maintaining neat and tidy condition. Gardens within hedges, lawns and shrubberies attached to compounds should be maintained to a offices, rest houses and playgrounds and in satisfactory standard. colonies in a satisfactory condition devolves on the garden staff attached to the division/ 707 Incidence of Service district. Where such gardens are small, the watchman should maintain them in a Where hedges and lawns in bungalows satisfactory state. are maintained by the railway, the incidence of service should generally be as follows, with b) The Section Engineer (Works) should variations as necessitated by climatic pay requisite attention to the cleanliness of conditions being allowed for:- _________________________________________________________________________________________________ (i) Hedges: Hedge cutting.. Once in 2 months Watering.. Once a week till the hedges are fully grown and then once in 2 months (ii) Lawns: Mowing.. Once a month Watering.. Once a fortnight and once a week in summer Weeding.. Once a month _________________________________________________________________________________________________ 708 Provision of Lawns and Hedges In New Bungalows The following schedule of plantations may be adopted as a guideline:- Officers' Type IV Bungalows Quarters _______________ ____________ Lawn 200 sq.m 75 sq.m Hedge 200 m 100 m The cost of initial plantation should be borne by the railway against approved estimates. 169  GARDENS & PLANTATIONS, DISPOSAL OF GRASS AND OTHER NATURAL PRODUCTS C. SALE OF NATURAL PRODUCTS these should be brought to the notice of the Divisional Engineer beforehand to enable him 709 (a) By Auction or By Tender to fix reserve price. In fixing reserve price, the Divisional Engineer in consultation with The natural products on railway land Assistant Engineer will take into account should be sold by public auction or by tender previous year's sales and such other relevant and the sale proceeds credited to railway factors as pertaining to the quality and quantity revenues. of produce of relevant year. The auction of grass, dead or dying trees, 711 Auction or Tender Notices And rights for the collection of produce of fruit trees, Agreement tapping of date-trees for toddy (subject to Local Government's permission) and fishing Auction/tender notices in Hindi, English in railway tanks, shall be conducted by the and regional language should be pasted at Assistant Engineer about one month before least a fortnight in advance, at stations and at the commencement of the season. The places where they can be seen by prospective products of fruit-bearing trees in the compound purchasers/bidders. of residential quarters can be enjoyed by the residents, but the products cannot be sold. Auction notices should show (i) the date, time and place of auction, (ii) full particulars (b) To State Forest Corporations etc. of the products or rights to be sold, (iii) that the successful bidder shall deposit the full The matured trees can also be sold to amount of sale and sign an agreement State Government agencies like Forest immediately after the bidding is closed and Development Corporations on the approved (iv) reserve prices of lots to be auctioned. rates. Sealed tenders on prescribed forms for (c) Division of lots sale of natural products may, alternatively, be invited by the Divisional Engineer and Schedules of lots in convenient lengths agreements entered into. for each kind of natural product to be sold, should be prepared by Section Engineer 712 Recording & Finalisation of Bids (Works/P.Way) and submitted to the Divisional Engineer through AEN. All bids made at the auction should be recorded. The highest bid should be accepted 710 Fixing of Reserve Price of Lots if it is not less than the reserve price fixed by the Divisional Engineer, unless there are Reserve price for each lot to be sold by definite reasons for not doing so. In such a auction should be fixed by the Divisional case these reasons should be recorded in the Engineer in consultation with the Accounts bid list before closing the auction. Officer. If there are any special circumstances, which are likely to affect the value of the lots, 170  GARDENS & PLANTATIONS, DISPOSAL OF GRASS AND OTHER NATURAL PRODUCTS a) At the foot of the bid list, the Assistant successful bidder regarding the Engineer should certify as follows:- acceptance, the responsibility for watching the products or "rights" passes "I certify that I personally conducted the over to him. The Railway shall not be auction and the above is a true statement liable to any loss or damage from theft, of the products sold and the prices fire or any other cause, whatsoever. realised." Agreements should provide for this. b) After closing the auction, the full amount f) When there is a tie at an auction and a of the bid should be collected from the railway servant happens to be one of the successful bidder who should sign an bidders, his offer shall be given agreement on the prescribed form. The preference. If the bidders happen to be products or rights may then be handed railway servants, the offer of the over forthwith to the successful bidder. employee with longer service shall be Receipt for the amount collected should accepted. Engineer should take into be given and the money remitted to the account the 'locus-standi' of the bidders Railway immediately with full details. concerned. c) If the successful bidder fails to pay the In case of lease of right of fishing by full amount or the highest bid is below public auction or tender, the first preference the reserve price fixed by the Divisional should be given to Fishermen's Co-operative Engineer, the lot should not be sold. The Societies formed by Railwaymen. If no such bidders' list should however be society exists, the second preference should completed and certified by the Assistant be given to other Fishermen's Co-operative Engineer and submitted to the Divisional Societies. If no such Society exists, it may Engineer with recommendations for be let out to others by open public auction or orders. The Divisional Engineer may in open tender. consultation with the Accounts Officer approve the sale or order a fresh auction 713 Register of Sales of Natural for the lot or lots not sold. Products d) After the sale by auction is over, the A register in manuscript form shall be bidders' list and the agreement duly maintained in the Divisional Engineer's office executed by the party should be section-wise with complete particulars of sales submitted to the Divisional Engineer for affected and entries made therein, as and ratification. Certified copies of the when necessary, initialled by the Divisional agreement should then be issued by the Engineer. Divisional Engineer's office to the party, the Assistant Engineer and the Inspector. 714 Licensing of Tanks and Borrow The original agreement should be sent Pits for Pisiculture to the Accounts Department for record. For licensing the borrow pits and tanks e) After the advice is given to the for pisiculture, preferences shall be given to 171  GARDENS & PLANTATIONS, DISPOSAL OF GRASS AND OTHER NATURAL PRODUCTS co-operative societies formed by railway quoted, the tender being in respect of a certain employees. The period of such licensing can number of marked trees only, at the specified be from 1 to 5 years and the licence fee is to kilometrage. be fixed on merits in consultation with FA & CAO. (c) Joint Survey : Annually, joint survey of the trees should be carried out by Junior D. FELLING OF TREES Scale Officers of Engineering, S & T, Electrical Department etc. and trees which are likely to 715 Felling of trees obstructing view endanger safety of track should be identified and felled/lopped as may be considered (a) Trees and bushes that interfere or necessary. A report should be sent to the tend to interfere with the view from a train, of Divisional Engineer and Divisional Safety signals or level crossings or along the insides Officer. of curves, shall be cut. When cut, it should be ensured that they do not foul the track. 716 Felling Outside Railway Limits It is however desirable that as many trees When trees and bushes which interfere as possible be retained, consistent with with the view of signals or level crossings are ensuring the safety of trains. Relaxations in on private land, steps to clear the obstructions distance from track are left to the discretion should be taken as laid down in section 14 of of the Assistant Engineer who will satisfy the Indian Railways Act 1989. himself that no risk of trees falling across the line is taken. The following are among the 717 Felling in Compound of Staff relaxations: Quarters (i) Trees may be reduced in height by Trees in compounds of railway lopping the top branches to obviate bungalows or staff quarters should not be felled danger of obstruction. nor any branches lopped except with the permission of the Assistant Engineer. (ii) Branches on the track side may only be removed, leaving those on the side 718 Felling Near Electrical or Telegraph remote from the track, thus rendering it Wires impossible for the tree to fall across the track. Trees in close proximity to electrical or communication lines should not be cut nor the (b) When a group of trees is to be felled, branches lopped except in the presence of each tree should be carefully marked, staff of the Electrical or Telegraph Department identified, classified and measured. Tenders as the case may be. may be invited for the felling and purchase of timber of such lots of trees, stipulating a time limit for the felling and removal from railway land of each lot. When inviting tenders, the classification and size of trees need not be 172  GARDENS & PLANTATIONS, DISPOSAL OF GRASS AND OTHER NATURAL PRODUCTS 719 Afforestation on Railway Land By Forest Department 2) The Agreement should take into account the Indian Forest Act and should have 1) No new plantation of trees by the State sufficient safeguards so that the Forest Departments may be permitted Railways title on the land is not diluted unless they enter into a written agreement and the Railwaymen are freely permitted with the Railways along with a jointly to enter the forest and take action for safe signed plan indicating the areas permitted operation of the train services. for plantation. Minor modifications to suite the situational need may be made Trees should be planted in accordance in the proforma prescribed by the Railway with para 704 of this manual. In addition other Board, but for any important modification, guidelines in the agreement with the Forest the Railway Board may be referred. Department may be followed. 720 Survey of Surviving Trees - Every year a survey of surviving trees should be made for that year and information should be furnished in the proforma as detailed below: _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Location : Type of : No.of trees : Trees from : Saplings : Total : Remarks of trees : Trees : more than 50 : 15cm to : needing : : : : cm girth : 50cm girth : protection : : _________________________________________________________________________________________________ I : II : III : IV : V : VI : VII _________________________________________________________________________________________________ The above information should be land, with all its attendant benefits, this is also collected and entered in a tree register a source for earning revenue when these trees maintained for this purpose by Section reach maturity. Engineer (Works /P.Way) in-charge. Planting of tree saplings and harvesting The information with regard to number of of matured trees should be a continuous trees planted, cut and perished have to be process with the number of tree saplings maintained in another Register. planted on the Railway exceeding the target set by the Board for this purpose. This figure A consolidated information is required to should also be atleast double of the number be sent to the Railway Board by 30th April, of matured trees harvested on the Railway. every year. As per the Forest Research Institute, 721 Harvesting of Matured Trees - Dehradun, a matured tree, in commercial terms, is one which has reached an age where The Railways undertake extensive it gives the maximum economical outturn of plantation of trees on their land every year. timber. This shall be dependent on the specie Besides increasing the green cover over the of tree expected to be harvested. 173  GARDENS & PLANTATIONS, DISPOSAL OF GRASS AND OTHER NATURAL PRODUCTS Vigorous efforts are expected to be made such proposals, judiciously deciding the terms to harvest the matured trees so as to earn the and conditions. maximum revenue for the Railway from this source. 723 Training of Staff 722 Maintenance by Private Parties The malis and supervisors should be trained using facilities available with state Where the private parties are willing to government institutions or elsewhere. maintain the gardens, the railway may accept HHHHHHH 174