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PRE-FEASIBILITY REPORT

Name of the project: Road Metal& Building stone by Sri V.Maruthi Chowdary 1 Name and address of the Sri Maruthi Chowdary proponent: S/0 V.Hanumantharaya Chowdary D.NO: 1-91,Yerrampalli (V) Kalyandurg (M), Ananthapuram Dist, (A.P) Cell N.o : 9441317479 2 Location of the N 14° 32’ 24.7”, E 77° 05’ 23.2” project(Coordinates of the N 14° 32’ 28.4” E 77° 05’ 21.4” area and Topo sheet No) N 14° 32’ 28.4” E 77° 05’ 27.9” N 14° 32’ 31.6” E 77° 05’ 25.1” 57 F/02 3 Category of the project as per 1(a)of the Schedule, Category B2 the Schedule under EIA notification 4A Details of application filed Existing project hence Not Applicable before the concerned granting authority Survey No: 396 of Kalyandurg. Extent: 2.519 Ha. Village: Kalyandurg Mandal: Kalyandurg District: Ananthapuramu State: Andhra Pradesh 4B Details of grant made in case 1. Proceedings No.3885/Q4/2010 dated: of existing project 03-08-2011 of Deputy Director of Mines & Geology, Kurnool. Grant order details 2. Proceedings No.244/Q3/RM/2010, dated.09.12.2014 of ADMG, Ananthapuramu. Period of Lease 10 years w.e.f. 09.12.2014 Survey No: 396 of Kalyandurg Extent: 2.519 hects. Village: Kalyandurg Mandal: Kalyandurg District: Ananthapuramu State: Andhra Pradesh

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1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

This relates to a quarry project to produce road metal, rough stone/boulders for the use in construction activity. Due to recent introduction of stone crushing units, the major activity of production of stone aggregate shifted to Industry from the place of quarry site. Presently boulders of about150 mm size are produced in the quarry and are transported to crushing Industry where the boulders are reduced to required sizes. Presently 40mm size is used for metal soling in road works and also in flooring foundations. The next sizes having in demand in the market are 20mm, 12mm, 6mm and stone dust. A mix of 20mm and 12mm is normally used in concrete making in building structures and also making cement roads. The 6mm and stone dust are used for upper layers of blacktop roads. Thus entire produce is put to use in building construction and road laying activity. For development of any area, Stone metal is pre-requisite. Andhra Pradesh is endowed with huge reserves of granite throughout the state. Though geologically there are different rock types like granite, charnockite, dolerite, gabbro, syenite etc., for all these the general terminology under usage is granite, which is hard rock with hardness of 5.5 to 7 in Moh’s scale of hardness. The other rock types like limestone, dolomite are also predominant in the state. Due to their chemical weathering character and low hardness they are normally not preferred in concrete mixing. Besides, the other widely occurring rock type in A.P. is quartzite. Although it is also useful in concrete mix, due to its high hardness (7 Moh’s scale) its crushing cost is relatively high. Hence it is not preferred unless local availability compels to use it.

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The present project is a Stone metal quarry in operation at least for the last one decade. As per the recent amendments brought to the EIA notification of 2006 vide amendment, dated 07.10.2014for mining of in less than 5 ha area also under the net of obtaining E.C. especially due to the observation of the National Green Tribunal, the present proposal is made for seeking Environmental Clearance (EC).

The area under operation covers by a quarry lease granted by the Dy.Director of Mines and Geology, under the provisions of A.P.Minor Mineral Concession Rules 1966.The said grant gives right of quarrying to the proponent subject to the terms and conditions of the lease agreement entered with the Government. The required seigniorage fee is paid to the department for the material dispatched from the quarry site. The quarrying activity is manual using mild explosives with controlled blasting, without affecting the surrounding environment. In fact the activity is far away from the habitations. The material so quarried is dispatched to the stone crushing units, which have already got E.C. Broadly speaking,in the metal quarrying activity there is very little scope for Environmental Pollution and waste generation. The small amount of dust generated is suppressed by way of using water sprinklers. The workers employed in the activity are supplied with nose and ear masks to protect them from possible air and noise pollution. Since the operations are mostly confined to rocky areas of the hill slopes, there is no possibility of land degradation due to this activity. Wherever possible by way of plantations, greenery is maintained. Above all as this material is essential for the developmental activity, mining is inevitable. By way of taking appropriate measures, it is possible to control dust emissions in the mine.

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2. INTRODUCTION OF THE PROJECT/ BACKGROUND INFORMATION: The project under operation is called mining project which falls under category B2 under schedule specified under notification issued vide S.O. 1533 MOEF dated 14-9-2006 read with amendments issued under S.O 2601 dated 7-10-2014 of MOEF & Climate change. Even though the said notification envisages necessity of obtaining E.C. only for new projects, keeping in view of the notices issued by the department of Mines and Geology, present application is filed for seeking E.C. The project is to produce building stone/road metal stone from the quarry lease granted areas. The material obtained by way of using small quantities of mild explosives under controlled blasting. i) Brief note on use of explosives: The quarrying activity requires dislodging of rock mass from the parental rock which is quite hard. In order to mine this rock material, usage of explosives and blasting is inevitable. .For this purpose to operate by himself, the proponent requires explosive license under the Indian Explosives Act 1884. Since the small quarry operators cannot afford to establish individual explosive Magazines, they are resorting to outsource the blasting operation to an agency which holds the license to use explosives and undertakes the blasting operations in the quarry by appointing qualified blasters.

The quarry operator gets blast holes drilled in the spacing and burden suggested by the out sourced agency. The drill holes of 32 mm dia. are drilled to an average depth of 2.0m with a spacing of 1.5 m and burden of 1.0 m. The maximum numbers of holes at one go of blasting will be 20-25. Once the drill holes are kept ready, the licensed blaster of the

5 outsourcing agency takes over for further operations. The holes are charged with 25mm. dia. A based slurry explosives. Stemming is done with locally available clay. The holes are connected with millisecond delay detonators for ensuring maximum fragmentation and fired by using a dynamo type exploder. Before firing the shots, the entire area of a minimum 500 meters radius is cleared of men and machinery and all possible entry points for men or animals are posted with well-informed guards and the final firing with a dynamo exploder is done after clearance is obtained from all the points. After a lapse of sufficient time, the blasted face is inspected and all clear signals is given to the guards. Whistles and Red flags are used for the operations. Extra precautions are taken when a certain quarry is closer to a highway, habitations etc. The explosive charge is reduced and thick mattings are laid over the surface concerned.

On blasting, it is natural that large boulders are occasionally produced. These cannot be handled easily for loading and also the crushers cannot crush them. Therefore the secondary blasting is resorted to by drilling Jack hammer holes and using small diameter explosives like kelvex, superdyne etc. by taking the same precautions as per primary blasting ii)Brief description of nature of the project: The product produced from this project is stone of about 150 mm size, a feed to the stone crusher, to produce stone aggregate of 40mm, 20mm,12mm, 6mm sizes for the use in concrete and other road works. The final product in the process is stone dust which canalso be used as filling material, in place of ordinary sand in cement mix and also as top fine layer in block top roads.

6 iii) Need for the project and its importance to the country and or region: As civilization grows, there is need for the improvement of infrastructural facilities. For the development of infrastructure facilities, huge consumption of stone aggregate and road metal is imminent. For every tone of cement consumed, the stone aggregate required would be 3tones. Government is committed to housing to poor people in the present welfare state. In this context requirement of huge quantities of stone aggregates and cement are imminent. The requirement of stone aggregate in A.P. is 90 million tones basing on cement consumption figures, apart from this the stone aggregate is also used in road making where cement is not used. Besides, due to shortage of river sand, presently, rock sand is contemplated to be its substitute. Hence, the requirement of stone for making rock sand increases exponentially and there is need to go for further production of the rock boulders. Hence, there is every need to encourage the mining projects of this type. Moreover, the quarrying activity of the area over considerable time make the area fit for tree growth after exhaustion of the deposit. If the activity takes place below ground level the mine pit helps to act as water reservoirs and thereby improves ground water level in the surrounding areas. Hence the activity can be considered to be environmental friendly. More so in the nearby vicinity a new A.P. capital with huge out lay of about more than INR 100000croresis contemplated. At least 20% of this component goes for raw material such as stone aggregate, sand and cement. Therefore, there is every need to encourage this type of project

7 iv) Demand, Supply and Gap: As explained supra there is increasing demand for this stone especially due to the new capital under way for A.P and the present area is located in very close proximity. Therefore there is going to be more demand than present supply of the material, since present supply is only catering the needs of existing construction activity. v) Imports vs. Indigenous production: There is no scope of import of this type of construction material as there is enough scope to exploit the vast reserves of hard rock. In fact, some of the small islands surrounding our country are importing such construction material as they cannot indulge any more in excavation of the exposed hard rock there. vi)Export Possibility: There is good possibility to export this material, to provide the port network facilitates. vii) Domestic / export Markets: This material, as explained earlier, so as to cater to the developmental needs of Vijayawada which is one of the fast developing cities in India and more so to the new State Capital which is coming up in nearby area with huge investments. Hence there is very bright future for the domestic consumption. viii)Employment Generation (Direct and Indirect) due to the project: This project provides employment to about 15persons per day directly and about equal number indirectly.

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3. PROJECT DESCRIPTION: i) Type of project including interlinked and interdependent projects, if any: This is interlinked project with stone crushing projects. The activity is by way of manual mining using small quantities of explosives under controlled blasting to split/ loosen the rock mass from the parent rock. The rock boulders so produced will be of size range between 0.2cum to 0.75 cum and same will be reduced in size to small boulders about 150mm by manualbreaking and would be used as stone crusher feed.

Ii) Location (map showing general location, specific location, and project boundary & project site layout) with coordinates: The lease area is located at 1.5Kms towards 1.25 towards southwest of Yatakallu village and topographically the lease area is a plain land, Gently slopes towards north direction. The area is devoid of any forest or tree cover. It comprises big size boulder’s. The location map of the area demarcated on revenue sketch is annexed to the lease grant order apart from locating the area on Survey of India Toposheet No. F/03 iii) Details of alternate sites considered and the basis of selecting the proposed site, particularly the environmental considerations gone into should be highlighted: Minerals are site specific unlike other products. There is no alternative than mining of the mineral where ever they occur by way of shifting the other projects to elsewhere, even if they are located on

9 the top of mineral bed. We can re-locate any project to anywhere, but not the mineral deposits, which are god given gifts to the humankind. iv) Size or magnitude of operation: This is a very small project spread over an extent of 1.0ha. The probable annual production is about 0.8m.tons which can give employment opportunities to about 12 persons directly and another 12 persons indirectly. This project is a labor intensive industry though the capital out lay of the project is very low, when compared to projects of high investments. v) Project description with process details (a schematic diagram/ flow chart showing the project layout, components of the project etc. should be given): Schematic Diagram/Flow Chart: Parent rock

↓ Producing of rock aggregates with sizes of0.25 to 0.75m by line

drilling and controlled blasting.

↓ Breaking up of the bigger size blocks to ≈150mm size rock

aggregates by manual hammering

↓ The ≈150mm size rock material shall be sent as crusher feed

↓ From crusher the resulting end products are with 40mm, 20mm, 12mm size road metal and rock dust.

10 vi)Raw material required along with estimated quantity, likely source, marketing area of final product/s, and mode of transport of raw material and finished Product: The estimated resource of rock material in the lease area, as crusher feed, is of the order of about 0.8million tons. The transportation of the raw material is by way of tippers from the quarry to the stone crushing units and loading is by using raw material loader (Proclain). The marketing area is-nearby like Kalyanadurgam, Anantapur, settur, Rayadurgam towns and neighboring villages. The final finished product from the crusher will be transported to the consumer points by tippers. vii) Resource optimization/ recycling and reuse envisaged in the project, if any, should be briefly outlined: The estimated resource of the raw material in the lease hold area of extent 1.0ha is of the order of about 0.8m.tons. Because it is a basic construction material for roads and buildings, it cannot be retrieved and recycled. In fact the stone dust generated was considered to be a waste in the past. But of late, due to the shortage of filling material the stone dust is being used as alternative filling material for leveling the low lying areas. Further, recently due to the shortage of soil in brick making, concrete bricks are made by using baby chips and stone dust as an alternative. Hence the dust generated is also has good market along with other produce in the stone crushing unit. viii) Availability of water, its source, Energy/ power requirement and source should be given: At mine site, water is used for:

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. Wet drilling . Water sprinkling on quarry roads and approach roads for dust suppression. The metal quarry requires about 10KLD of water. This includes water for drilling (about 1.0 -1.5 KLD), dust suppression (6.0-6.5 KLD) and domestic purposes (1.5- 2.0 KLD). For drinking purpose of the persons working in the quarry potable water supply is out sourced. Whereas for sprinkling purposes water will be tapped from the nearby boreholes on contract basis by tankers. There is no need for power supply since the operations are conducted only during day times. The requirement of fuel for running the vehicles and machinery will be procured from the nearby petrol bunks.

ix) Quantity of wastes to be generated (liquid and solid)and scheme for their Management/disposal: The stone metal quarrying is on the hill slopes occupied by sheet rocks and boulders which do not have soil cover, hence there will not be any scope waste generation.

x) Schematic representations of the feasibility drawingwhich give information of EIA purpose: This is a very small mining project with an extent of 1.0 ha and does not have any major Environmental Impact. However, the minor environmental impacts such as air pollution by dust emissions and noise pollution by mining activity are contained by water sprinkling on the quarry roads and by provided ear & nose masks to the persons working in the mine respectively.

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Topo map of the mining project with 5 Km radius from the project with site location showing and its adjoining areas isenclosed. As such there is no impact on the human habitation, water bodies and nearby forest due to this mining activity. The dust emissions due to blasting are minimal and settle in a short time. The dust in the muck pile will be suppressed by sprinkling water. No solid waste and liquid effluents will be generated during mining activities. There are no rivers in nearby areas. As there are no waste materials generated, there is no possibility of dumping the pollutants in neighboring rivers, nalas and tanks.

4. SITE ANALYSIS: i) Connectivity: The site has good connectivity as State Highway of Anantapur to kalyandurg to Bangalore is at 10 kms connecting kalyanadurgam municipality the nearest railway station which is about 10kms of A black topped road connects the quarry site with the National Highway. ii) Land Form, Land Use and Land Ownership: The lease area is located at the 1.25 Km towards SW of Yatakallu village and it is topographically in the plain land and devoid of any forest or tree cover. The land forms observed on the hill are domal, elephant back, sheetrock, pediment slope, split boulder, strewn boulder and stray boulder. The country is with adulatory topography covered with Red soils of high fertility nature. In the surrounding area paddy, Groundnut, Banana, Pulses and vegetables like tomatoes are grown. The quarry land belongs to the Govt. of Andhra Pradesh.

13 iii)Topography (along with map): The lease area is located at 2.5Kms towards southwest of Kalyandurg village and topographically the lease area is a Residual Hillock. The gentle to steep slopes towards all directions. The area is devoid of any forest or tree cover. The MSL of the base point of the quarry area is 656 m above M.S.L The location of the lease area is marked on Survey of India Toposheet No.57F/02 which depicts the altitudes and other Topographic features within 5 Km radius of the site.

iv)Existing land use pattern (agriculture, non-agriculture, forest, water bodies(including area under CRZ)), shortest distances from the periphery of the project to periphery of the forests, national park, wild life sanctuary, eco sensitive areas, water bodies ( distance from the HFL of the river), CRZ. In case of notified industrial area, a copy of the Gazette notification should be given: Except for the hill tracks, the surrounding plain country with highly fertile nature is used for cultivation for the crops. In the surrounding area paddy, Groundnut, Banana, Pulses and vegetables like tomatoes are grown.. As such there are no major water bodies nearby except a few minor irrigation tanks The minor irrigation tanks of Kalyandurg is at the distance of 2.0 kms SE from the site and Garudapuramu tank is at distance of 5 Kms in due SE. Kalyandurg RF is about 1Kms from the project site towards West. There are no National parks, wild life sanctuaries and eco-sensitive areas in nearby. There are no notified Industrial areas in nearby.

14 v)Existing Infrastructure: Since it is small mine no permanent structures are built. However need based temporary structures are constructed for providing basic emanates to the work force.

vi)Soil classification: There is no soil in the quarry area as it is a rocky exposure all over the quarry area.

vii) Climatic data from secondary sources: The area falls in semi-arid region and experiences maximum temperature of 44°C in summer during April & May, while minimum temperature of 18°Cin winter during December & January. The average rain fall is of the order of 624 mm/year. The area experiences maximum rain fall due to SW monsoon during June–September. It also receives rain fall due to NE monsoon during November and December.

viii)Social Infrastructure available: The surrounding villages are well developed and are well connected to the major towns like Anantapur, Kalyandurg, Rayadurg and bellary are well-maintained black topped wide roads. The cities and towns which are nearby are equipped with good educational, hospital and communication facilities.

5. PLANNING BRIEF: i) PlanningConcept (type of industries, facilities, transportation etc) Town and county Planning/Development authority Classification:

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This quarry operation exists for more than a decade and hence it is in the knowledge of the Town and County Planning Departments. As such, medical, educational and transport facilities are well developed in nearby Cities and Towns and they can be made use of by the working personnel in the mine.

ii)Population Projection: The population of the villages falling within 5 Km radius as indicated below:

S.No. Name of the village Population Distance in KM Directions 1 Kalyandurg 32,328 2.5 KM North-East 2 Idukallu 350 2 KM West 3 Mangampalli 450 5 KM South-West 4 Garudapuramu 6253 6 KM South-East (Source:Censes 2011)

iii) Land use planning (breakup along with green belt etc): This is a small quarry which is located on a hill slope and hence there is no scope for green belt development until the operation is completed. However after the quarrying operations are over the degraded area due to quarrying shall developed as a green belt area by reclamation. The reclamation of the quarry pit is by refilling.

iv) Assessment of Infrastructure Demand (Physical &Social): There are well developed infrastructural facilities in the nearby areas of the lease hold. Hence, there is no need to go for any such projects within the lease area or in nearby area.

v) Amenities/Facilities: Since the area is in close proximity with the developed cities and towns, the educational, medical and communication facilities

16 available there can make use of. Besides, need based facilities/services are also provided by the proponent.

Vi). Proposed Infrastructure: i) Industrial Area (Processing Area): There are no demarcated specified industrial zones in the area. However depending on the market demand a number of stone crushing units were established within the reasonable distances.

ii) Residential Area (Non Processing Area): No residential constructions are proposed in the area since there are good number of villages (within 5 km distance) which can be make use for staying by the quarry workers.

iii) Green Belt: After the closure of the quarry development of green belt is proposed after reclamation. iv) Social Infrastructure: The area is very well accessible.

v) Connectivity (Traffic andTransportation Road/ Rail/Metro/Water ways etc): The site has good connectivity as State Highway of Anantapur to kalyandurg to Bangalore is at 10kms connecting kalyanadurgam municipality the nearest railway station which is about 10kms of A black topped road connects the quarry site with the National and state Highways

vi) Drinking Water Management (Source & Supply of water): All the nearby villages are having potable water source from the local bodies and hence there is no problem for potable water supply.

17 vii) Sewerage System: The project as such is devoid of human habitation and hence no need to have the linkage with sewerage system.

viii)Industrial Waste Management: No industrial waste management is required since no waste material is generated. ix)Solid Waste Management: No solid waste management since there is no solid waste is generated in the quarry operations. x) Power Requirement & Supply / source: No power requirement, since the operations are confined to day time only.

CONCLUSIONS: In the light of the above explanations, in order to meet the basic requirements of mankind such as Rods, buildings and infrastructure etc., the basic requirements of mankind, which are pre-requisites for the growth of the Nation require concrete chips, road metal and railway ballast as the essential ingredient on par with cement. It is difficult to imagine a Society without consumption of cement. Wherever cement is in use, usage of stone aggregate is must. As per the statistics, capita cement consumption in India is about 200 Kg./annum. Therefore, per capita consumption of the stone aggregate would at least be 3 times that of cement consumption that comes to about 600kg/year. Besides, the stone aggregate is exclusively required as road metal and railway ballast. As a result the per capita consumption of stone aggregate would be 1200kg per capita

18 requirement per year. Therefore, the present activity proposed forms part of essential activity contributing for supply of the raw material. More so, occurrence of such deposit in the form of huge hillocks isa gift of mother earth to its children to live comfortably. As minerals being site specific, there is no other way out except winning the mineral at the place of its existence. Of course, keeping in view of the environmental parameters one should strike a balance in achieving both the objectives by way of following all measures to cut down the possible environmental degradation due to mining. In Andhra Pradesh statistically about 60 million tons of stone aggregate is required per year for all its developmental activities. Small quarries with 5000 tons capacity production would contribute only about 0.01% of the total requirement. Such quarries being limited in number with limited production capacity have to be encouraged to generate not only the required material but also to provide employment to the people.

Signature of the Proponent