ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENT IN FORM-V (Under Rule-14, Environmental (Protection) Rules, 1986) (2018 – 2019) for COMPOSITE SAND MINING PLAN in the RIVERBED OF AJOY RIVER (J. K. ROPEWAYS AREA) Eastern Coalfields Limited Prepared at Regional Institute – I Central Mine Planning & Design Institute Ltd. (A Subsidiary of Coal India Ltd.) G. T. Road (West End) Asansol - 713 304 CMPDI ISO 9001:2015 Company Environmental Statement (Form-V) for Composite Sand Mining Plan in Ajoy Riverbed 2018-19 ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENT FOR Composite Sand Mining Plan in Ajoy Riverbed Environmental statement for the financial year ending 31st March, 2019 FOR THE YEAR: 2018-19 CONTENTS SL NO. CHAPTER PARTICULARS PAGE NO. 1 CHAPTER-I INTRODUCTION 2-5 2 CHAPTER-II ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENT FORM-V (PART A TO I) 6-9 LIST OF ANNEXURES ANNEXURE NO. PARTICULARS PAGE NO. I AMBIENT AIR QUALITY 10-15 II GROUND WATER QUALITY REPORT 16 III GROUNDWATER LEVEL 17 PLATES I PLAN SHOWING SAND GHATS II PLAN SHOWING LOCATION OF MONITORING STATIONS 1 Environmental Statement (Form-V) for Composite Sand Mining Plan in Ajoy Riverbed 2018-19 CHAPTER – I INTRODUCTION 1.1 GENESIS: The Gazette Notification vide G.S.R No. 329 (E) dated 13th March, 1992 and subsequently renamed to ‘Environmental Statement’ vide Ministry of Environment & Forests (MOEF), Govt. of India gazette notification No. G.S.R No. 386 (E) Dtd. 22nd April’93 reads as follows. “Every person carrying on an industry, operation or process requiring consent under section 25 of the Water Act, 1974 or under section 21 of the Air Act, 1981 or both or authorisation under the Hazardous Waste Rules, 1989 issued under the Environmental Protection Act, 1986 shall submit an Environmental Audit Report for the year ending 31st March in Form V to the concerned State Pollution Control Board on or before the 30th day of September every year.” In compliance with the above, the work of Environmental Statement (Form-V) for Composite Sand Mining in Ajoy Riverbed was entrusted to CMPDI by GM (Environment & Forest), Eastern Coalfields Limited. 1.2 PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Sand for the sole purpose of stowing in underground mines is being extracted by ECL from Ajoy Riverbed for the last 40 years on the basis of temporary leases / permits obtained from the Govt. of West Bengal. There are in all 21 stations of sand mining in the Ajoy Riverbed spread in stations over 30 kms of its course along the northern boundary of the Raniganj Coalfield. Since obtaining environment clearance is now mandatory for sand mining to continue, a composite plan for extracting sand from the Ajoy Riverbed has been prepared covering all the 21 stations with combined mining leasehold area of 1023.48 Acre (414.36 Ha). Total quantity of sand proposed to be extracted is 2.0 million m3 per annum at peak level of extraction. Sand mining is carried out manually at all the above stations in Ajoy Riverbed up to a maximum depth of 1.0 m (average depth 0.5 m) with the help of hand shovels, loaded on trucks and transported either directly to the linked underground mines or stored in depots at transfer points for subsequent transport to the mines. Sand extraction and transportation activities are outsourced to experienced contractors and carried out under the supervision and guidelines of ECL. The proposal is for extraction of 2.0 million m3 of sand per annum from 21 stations in the riverbed of Ajoy River, flowing along the northern portion of Raniganj Coalfield in the Burdwan and Birbhum districts of West Bengal. The combined lease area of the 21 stations is 1023.48 Acre (414.36 Ha) spread over 30 kms of the course of Ajoy along Raniganj Coalfield. Sand is available in the riverbed of Ajoy River up to depths ranging from 10 m to 12.2 m as per studies carried out. As per the sand replenishment studies carried out for this proposal, the annual replenishment is up to 1.275 m of sand which gets evenly distributed on the riverbed and, thus, the depth up to which sand can be extracted annually at the designated stations is 1m. Thus, it has been proposed to mine sand from the designated stations up to an average depth of 0.5 m only in order to maintain sufficient surplus sand in the riverbed each year. EC was obtained vide letter no. J-11015/269/2012-IA.II (M)(Pt.) dated 26.05.2016 for production capacity of 2.0 Mm3 in ML area of 414.36 Ha. Total sand extraction during 2018-19 was 1.41 Mm3. Total manpower as on 31.03.2019 is 185. Total no. of working 2 Environmental Statement (Form-V) for Composite Sand Mining Plan in Ajoy Riverbed 2018-19 days were 303 days in GM office and 305 days in Agent Office. Sand is loaded manually into the trucks mostly of 9 cum capacity from designated ghats to sand bunkers distance of which varies from 5km to 30km for different bunkers. Location of the plan is shown in Plate no. – 1. Mouza & Plotwise land in Ajoy Riverbed where sand is being extracted for stowing purpose Maximum Sand Area Station J.L. Gram extraction P.S. Mouza Mining Plot No. (Acre) No. No. Panchayat per year site (M Cum) 1 236 4.00 2 1, 3, 24, 444, 890, 897, 130 50.00 1 Pandaveswar 3 Ramnagar Kendra 6, 38, 49, 50, 51, 1166, 0.150 3 100.00 1167, 1275 4 1193, 1194, 1144, 895, 896 70.00 1 543 4.00 1, 32, 32/296, 36, 37, 484, 35, 34, 33, 150, 149, 284, 0.050 2 Pandaveswar 6 Gobindapur Baidyanathpur 2 80.65 297, 40, 41, 148, 287, 289, 288, 309 3 296 10.00 0.050 1 278 4.00 3 Pandaveswar 7 Konda Baidyanathpur 2 593 20.39 0.050 3 149 12.41 4 Jamuria 64 Bagdiha Chinchuria 1 2/763 4.00 0.050 1 480 4.00 5 Pandaveswar 67 Chatrishgonda Samla 0.100 2 980 50.00 1 1155/2378 4.00 6 Pandaveswar 66 Samla Samla 2 2760 50.00 0.616 3 2457, 2458, 2454, 2456 17.00 7 Faridpur 5 Bhaburia Gourbazar 1 1384 30.00 0.100 1 175, 610 50.00 8 Pandaveswar 8 Deshlopa Baidyanathpur 2 68 50.86 0.150 3 651, 652 0.63 9 Faridpur 4 Madhaipur Gogla 1 2378 30.00 0.05 1 3400 20.00 10 Khairasole 113 Barjora Kendgore 2 3420 41.60 0.05 3 3375/3398 28.58 1 2098 20.00 11 Khoirasole 144 Rashidpur Kendgore 2 1893 5.00 0.05 3 1894, 2027, 2028 8.00 12 Dubrajpur 154 Palasdanga Loba 1 2905, 2456 30.00 0.05 13 Khairasole 146 Bolta Panchra 1 1131, 1136 30.00 0.05 1 244/265, 265/271 30.00 14 Khairasole 147 Parulboni Panchra 0.05 2 271 9.00 1 626/663 32.86 15 Khairasole 143 Ratanpur Kendgore 2 663 5.00 0.05 3 6642, 2669 3.00 16 Pandaveswar 4 Dalurband Baidyanathpur 1 1700 56.00 0.05 17 Khairasole 144 Beldanga Kendgore 1 227 5.00 0.05 18 Faridpur 7 Shyamsundarpur Baidyanathpur 1 4982 8.00 0.05 19 Khairasole 137 Churur Kendgore 1 1208 5.50 0.05 20 Khairasole 97 Nabason Parasundi 1 2258 20.00 0.05 21 Khairasole 92 Jamalpur Parasundi 1 855 20.00 0.05 Total 1023.48 1.966 i.e. 414.36 Peak: 2.0 Ha Location of sand mining stations on the Riverbed of Ajoy River is shown in Plate no. 2. 3 Environmental Statement (Form-V) for Composite Sand Mining Plan in Ajoy Riverbed 2018-19 1.3 ENVIRONMENTAL SCENARIO: CMPDI has been engaged to carry out routine Environmental monitoring of the clusters falling in the Raniganj Coalfield. The monitoring is carried out every fortnight by collecting 24 – hour samples for ambient air and compared with NAAQS, 2009 for quality. There are no specific air quality monitoring stations within the core zone of the project. However, the boundary of Ajoy River is shared by Cluster No. 12 (Group of 15 mines of ECL). Hence, 5 nos. of permanent stations and 3 nos. of pre-monsoon stations have been selected to represent the monitored air quality around the project (buffer zone). The details of the sampling stations are given below: Station Code Type of Station Name of Station ARA1/12A1 Permanent Air Station In Kendra village ARA2/12A3 Permanent Air Station In Danya village ARA3/12A7 Pre monsoon In Barajora village ARA4/12A8 Pre monsoon In Konda village ARA5/12A9 Pre monsoon In Tajpur village ARA6/12A11 Permanent Air Station Mandarboni village near Railway siding ARA7/12A12 Permanent Air Station Pandaveswar village near Railway siding ARA8/12A13 Permanent Air Station Madhaipur village near Railway siding Similarly, Groundwater level in the cluster area is monitored by taking measurements at 2 earmarked dugwells in the months of January, May, August and November every year. These dugwells are near the River bank located in the buffer zone. Location of dugwells is shown below: Station Code Location of dugwell ARGW1/12GWL2 Dugwell at Konda Regional Hospital ARGW2/12GWL7 Dugwell at roadside of Churat village near Barjore village Samples of groundwater from these wells, which are utilized by the local population for drinking and other domestic purposes, are analysed once in a year during May and compared with the IS 10500:2012 standards for drinking water quality. Location of the monitoring stations of air & water are shown in Plate- II. The environmental monitoring results for 24 fortnights ending 31st March, 2019 are appended as Annexures – I, II & III.