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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 8:56:24 pm

Growing Against the Grain

Part - 4 Name: Priya Salvi Where: Done, Thane district As Maharashtra’s villages face mounting pressure from chemical-intensive farming, water shortages, and rapid conversion of agricultural land to other uses, one woman farmer in Done (in Thane) is transforming her five-acre ancestral property into a working model of sustainable living. For Mumbai-based Priya Salvi, 56, the answer to the growing environmental crisis lies in returning to nature’s systems. On her farm, bananas, mangoes,...

Growing Against the Grain

Part - 4 Name: Priya Salvi Where: Done, Thane district As Maharashtra’s villages face mounting pressure from chemical-intensive farming, water shortages, and rapid conversion of agricultural land to other uses, one woman farmer in Done (in Thane) is transforming her five-acre ancestral property into a working model of sustainable living. For Mumbai-based Priya Salvi, 56, the answer to the growing environmental crisis lies in returning to nature’s systems. On her farm, bananas, mangoes, cashews and guavas thrive without synthetic chemicals, while fallen leaves, crop residue and pruned branches are recycled into manure and mulch. Armed with a Master’s degree in Horticulture from the Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, Salvi’s journey to farming was unusual. She spent years tackling Mumbai’s daunting waste-management challenges before ‘retiring’ to a rural setup around 2008, to implement her ideas about sustainability into practice on the chunk of land owned by her family Done in Thane district. Today, the ‘Salvi Farm’ is regarded as an experiment in biodiversity, soil conservation, water harvesting and need-based living, besides providing food. Though far away from urban comforts, Salvi describes herself as a prosperous, happy and satisfied person in her tiny lush green paradise where she pursues her passion for farming minus any chemical inputs. “A lot of chemicals are used in modern agriculture which are causing environmental degradation and affecting human health,” Salvi tells The Perfect Voice. So far, she has directly or indirectly inspired and trained over 3000 farmers, including many women. After her graduation, Salvi joined the ‘Save Bombay Committee’ to promote solid waste management, and within four years the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) took her on board as a consultant on waste management. Perturbed by the utter lack of civic sense among both authorities and citizens, she launched awareness camps, introduced vermi-processing, helped develop the Advanced Locality Management (ALM) concept to create a functional network involving citizens and the civic body, earning global attention. Yet, despite years of work on waste management and agriculture, Salvi felt cut-off from Mother Nature – a feeling that eventually led her to take up full time farming. In the last 17 years, Salvi has run her family farm virtually solo, earning the respect of the villagers, the farming community, and the society at large. Her agro-philosophy is returning to the soil what comes from it, be it fallen leaves, crop straw, pruned branches and other biomass, by converting them into mulch or manure through vermi-processing and other natural processes. She adheres to optimum tillage – scraping only the upper layer of soil instead of repeatedly turning it over – for utilizing its natural potential rather than forcing it to produce through chemical inputs. “Sustainable farming must go with sustainable living… Once you live in a sustainable way, your needs are reduced and are met by farming,” she points out.

Bad Roads, Ugly Politics

Suyash Padate
Nov 1, 2024
2 min read

The pathetic state of roads in Mumbai city as well as its suburbs has made daily commute a dangerous affair. The residents are miffed with the BMC over its lackadaisical attitude. Mumbaikars tweet photos, post videos to grab attention, but everything is in vain. Who cares for the common people. Backbreaking journeys have become part and parcel of life. Political leaders are busy mud-slinging.


This year the monsoon took a break after almost four and half months. During this time some of the roads virtually became non commutable. It may be recalled that the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde first announced to make Mumbai roads pothole free.


Its almost two years now the BMC has concretised only 9 percent of roads it planned to concretise. This decision was taken when it came to light that due to the properties of bitumen in asphalt roads, potholes are a regular occurrence due to contact with water during monsoons.


Hence, to solve the problem of potholes, the corporation has adopted a policy of cement concreting of 6-meter-wide roads in phases. The decision was taken but the dilly-dallying affair made things more difficult.


Mumbai’s traffic does put a lot of strain on roads which is not the case in the other developed countries. Second most important aspect is concretisation of roads is done partly and in phases.


The worst problem which is faced is repeated digging for cables and drainage, which weakens the roads. Above all corruption in BMC makes matters worse as a result everything comes to grinding halt.


According to experts, repairing potholes is a reaction with symptomatic treatment. By and large we are dispensing superficial treatment without addressing the root cause. The long-term solution will be to have roads with no potholes but what we need is the means and technology to achieve this. But for this political will is necessary which we lack on every step.


Mumbaikar’s are convience that corruption in the municipal corporation is the main reason. Contractors have had a monopoly over the last 20 years and this is the reason why reputed companies never come ahead for these projects.


As a result, in the name of attendance and repair, the BMC does shoddy work. Crores are spent but the end result is nothing. The BMC is not paying attention to the crust. If the crust is weak, potholes will see an increase. Without any thought or technical know-how, potholes are filled with cold mix.


This is the reason why the city and suburbs continue to have craters on the roads.


Craters, a serious threat to the safety and security of people. Mumbaikars fade up from their repeated visits to orthopedic surgeons.


They are in a mood to teach a proper lesson to those who were at the helm of the affairs.

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