EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Proposed Collection of Minor Minerals to Regulate and Maintain the Existing Course of River Song of Forest Division,

FOR Uttarakhand Forest Development Corporation Prepared By Grass Roots Research & Creation (P) Ltd.

(An ISO 9001:2008 Certified Co.)

F-374/375, Sector – 63, NOIDA 201 301 Ph.: 0120- 4044630, 4323120 Telefax: 0120 - 2406519 Email: [email protected], [email protected] Website: http://www.grc-india.com

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

 PURPOSE OF THE REPORT

The Song River originates from the Ladwakot forest in the District of Uttarakhand .The river flow direction is form north to south and the region falls under the Dehradun Forest Division. The river carries with it huge quantity of sediment consisting of stones, gravel and sand during every monsoon. The sediment in the form of river bed material (RBM) deposited in the last 100 years had changed the shape of the river bed from a valley to a raised land. Because of this, every year during monsoon season, heavy and devastating floods damage large tracts of forest land as well as agricultural land lying on both the banks of the river. Hence, it was thought necessary to make a channel in the middle 50% width of the river to create an area of cross section for the river water to flow unhindered during the monsoon season. The Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, has agreed in principal and asked the State Government to get and estimate of annual permissible extraction and rate of sedimentation along with the total approximate RBM available. This has been carried out and the report has been submitted.

 PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Extraction of Minor Minerals from the Song River is divided into three regions Song-1, Song-2, Song-3 in Dehradun forest division and Song Mussoorie in Mussoorie Forest division. This report deals with the Song Mussoorie region, which is a stretch of 2.37 km.

The total available area of Song Mussoorie is 64 ha, which falls under the Mussoorie forest division, District Dehradun, Uttarakhand. The aforesaid area has reserved forest regions on the east and west bank. The collection of minor-minerals will be carried out form 50% of the total area (32 ha) leaving 25% area on each side of the river banks for

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better channelization of the water during the rainy season and to protect the nearby forest land and habitant from floods.

Location Details Sl. No. Particulars Details

1 Location Mussoorie Forest division

2 District Dehradun

3 State Uttaranchal

4 Latitude 30°17'31.66" to 30°18'48.23" North

5 Longitude 78° 6'51.07" to 78° 7'12.59" East

6 Geographical Location in Toposheet 53 J/3 (Core Zone)

7 Elevation above Mean Sea Level 646 m

8 Nearest Highway NH-72

9 Nearest Railway (8 km)

10 Nearest Airport Jolly Grant Airport(14 km)

11 Historical / Tourist Place Dehradun (8 km)

Ecologically sensitive areas (National 12 Parks/ Wild life sanctuaries/ Biosphere Only reserved forest in the study area Reserves) 13 Project Area 64 Ha

 Proposed Method of Mining

Surface Mining: The mining is confined to extraction of sand, Reta & Bajri from the river bed. The operation will be manual in which the river bed material will be collected in its existing form. Reta and Bajri will be collected by sieving of river bed material. Mining will be carried out only upto a depth of 1.5m, therefore only hand tools like shovel, pan,

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sieve etc. will be used. Mining will be carried out only during the day time. Extraction of river bed material will be completely stopped during the monsoon season.

 Employment Potential

This project operation will provide livelihood to the poorest section of the society. It provides employment to the people residing in vicinity as about 26000 man days will be generated annually and approximately 36 people are to be benefited directly or indirectly by the project. (Approx. 15% to 20% of local people are dependent upon riverbed collection works)

 DESCRIPTION OF ENVIRONMENT

The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for proposed sand mining activities of area deals with detailed studies for various environmental components viz, air, water, land, noise, biological and socio-economic environment for one season i.e. winter 2010 which represent the existing environmental scenario.

For the environmental impact studies, an area covering 10 km distance from the boundary of mining lease areas was identified as study area (impact zone). The environmental attributes, parameters, stations, height (RL), distance and direction with respect to the core zone are provided in Table 3.1. The report incorporates the data collection during the period of January to March 2011. Secondary data was collected from various governments, public sector, educational and scientific institutions.  The collected meteorological data during this season represented the local meteorology. The predominant wind direction of the study area is from NE to SW as shown in the wind rose diagram.

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 The monitored ambient air quality in the study area was found to be in compliance with the National Ambient Air Quality (NMQ) norms of industrial, residential, rural and other areas  Ambient equivalent noise levels (Leq) during day and night times were found to be well within the CPCB Norms of Industrial & Commercial area limit  The water quality of surface water and ground water was found to be in compliance with BIS/CPCB Norms  The soil in the study area would very well support vegetation after amending it suitable with manure the yield will increase.  No endangered species of plants and animals has been found in the study area.

 ANTICIPATED ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS AND MITIGATION MEASURES

 Anticipated Impacts Due To Access Roads

Plying of heavy vehicles from public road to river sand collection points needs access roads Majority of such access roads are following the same alignment of existing roads/tracks being used by pedestrians/cart owners. Movement of heavy vehicles sometimes cause problems to cattle post, agriculture land, human habitations due to dust, noise and movement of public, and also causes traffic hazards. These environmental problems are felt more as the background is rural in nature.

 Mitigation of Impacts on Access Roads

Movement of the vehicles on the road will be increased; however, unmetalled road in the sand mining area will be sprinkled with water at regular intervals. In addition to prevent spillage by trucks, all trucks would have a free board of 9” on the chassis and over loading should be controlled along with speed limit.

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There will be minimum numbers of access roads to river bed, as cutting river banks should be avoided and ramps are to be maintained. Access points to the river bed are to be decided based on the following-  Least steepness of river bank,  Less riverside vegetation arid least human activity,  Where steepness cannot be avoided access ramps should be constructed,  Haulage roads parallel to the river bank and roads connecting access (ramps) to the river bed shall be away from bank, preferably a minimum of l00m away,  Access roads from the public roads and up to the river bank should be aligned in such a way that it would cause least environmental damage,  For particular operations approaching river bed from both the banks should be avoided

 Anticipated Impacts on Land due to RBM Mining Activity

Harvesting of river bed material and other associated activities may cause a few environmental degradations arid the most serious ones anticipated are detailed hereunder:-  Damage of river bank due to access ramps to river bed, causing eyesore, damage to the vegetation, soil erosion, micro disturbance to ground water,  Contamination of sand aquifer water due to ponding. Due to uneven rocky bed of the river, sand bed thicknesses vary considerably and harvesters are tempted to dig more sand from a pocket where thickness of sand is more and they cause ponding. In this stagnant water biodegradable materials especially flora waste gets accumulated causing contamination and inducing conducive environment for mosquito breeding  Riverbank collapses due to close proximity of rbm extraction.  Destruction of river bank hinterland and flora due to extraction of sand by approaching from riverbed.

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 Surface degradation due to road network.  Combination of at these activities results in offensive look

 Mitigation of Impacts on Land due to Sand Mining Activity

 No sand will be collected within 2.5-5.0m from bank, especially from outer bank of the meandering river. Safe clearance should be mainly determined by the height of the river bank and thickness of sand to be extracted from the close vicinity of that bank.  Ponding in the river bed shall not be allowed.  Minimal damage to the flora standing on the river bank.  Operations during daylight only.  No foreign material should be allowed to remain/spill in river bed and catchment area, or no pits/pockets will be allowed to be filled with such material,  Stockpiling of harvested sand on the river bank should be avoided.  Al least 0.5m sand bed should be left in-situ while harvesting sand from river bed

Soil Quality will be monitored on yearly basis near the core zone to check for any negative impacts on the soil quality. Plantation activity near the river banks will improve the land quality, aesthetics and reduce sod erosion. However, the sand mining activity will not have any significant impact on the land environment of the region.

 Impact on Water Environment

Damage in the water body, depends on its assimilative capacity. To find out assimilative capacity of receiving water body, water samples were collected from different Well, Bore Well, and other water bodies. The study indicates that assimilative capacity of the River water bodies still exists, but effective measures should be taken to check water pollution. To find out the effect on ground water an extensive hydro-geological study has been conducted and from the study it can be safely concluded that there is no noticeable effect

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 Mitigation Measures to Control Water Pollution

The major source of surface water pollution due to sand mining is insignificant.

 Utmost care will be taken to minimize sand spillage

 Drains and their Catchments will be constructed just beside the access roads so that the storm water gels settled before flowing to the river.  The washing of trucks in the river will be avoided.  Plantation along the river banks will be done to arrest the velocity of the storm water

 Impact on Air Environment

Information on present AAQ indicates that the sand mining activity has not affected the air quality in a significant manner. In sand mining operations, loading, transportation and unloading operations do not cause deterioration in air quality as the handled material is wet. Also, the sand collection and lifting is a manual operation without any blasting. Therefore the dust generated is insignificant as compared to mining process of other hard minerals like the process of drilling, blasting, mechanized loading etc. The only potential air pollution sources are the road transport network of the trucks.

 Mitigation of Impact on Air Environment

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The dust suppression measures like water spraying will be done on the roads. Utmost care will be taken to prevent spillage of sand from the trucks. Overloading will be prevented. The trucks will be covered by tarpaulin covers before dispatch to the market. Plantation activities along the roads will also reduce the impact of dust in the nearby villages.

 Noise and Vibration Environment

A there will be no heavy earth moving machinery there will not be any major impact on noise level due to sand mining and other association activities a detailed noise survey has been carried out and results are discussed in Chapter 3. Blasting technique is not used for sand lifting, hence no possibility of land vibration. It was found that the sand mining activity will not have any significant impact on the noise environment of the region. The only impact will be due to transportation of sand by trucks.

 Mitigation of Noise and Vibration Environment

As the only impact is due to transportation of sand through village roads, emphasis will be given on the following points.  Minimum use of Horns at the village area.  Timely maintenance of vehicles and their silencers to minimize vibration and sound.  Phasing out of old and worn out trucks.  Provision of green belts along the road networks.  Care will be taken to produce minimum sound during sand loading.

 Biological Environment

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The mining activity will have insignificant affect on the existing flora and fauna. Data have been collected from various Government Departments such as forests, agriculture, fisheries, animal husbandry and various offices to establish the pre-project biological environmental conditions. There are no endangered species, wildlife sanctuary, wildlife corridors or eco-sensitive area near the core zone. The project area is surrounded by only reserved forests on the banks are also lined with agricultural land. The purpose of the project itself is to save the flora around the project area from river widening, excessive erosion and floods. It was found that the sand mining activity will not have any significant impact on the biological environment of the region.

 Mitigation of Impacts on Biological Environment

There is a requirement to establish a stable ecosystem with both ecological and economic returns. Minimization of soil erosion and dust pollution enhances the beauty of the core and the buffer zone. To achieve this it planned to increase plantation activities. The basic objectives of plantations are as follows:-  Improvement of Soil quality  Quick vegetative cover to check soil erosion  Improvement in river bank stability  Conservation of biological diversity  Provide forage and browse for wild life

 Greenbelt Development and Bio-Diversity Preservation  Afforestation on degraded forest land, forest protection / conservation and river training measures will be carried out every year from the fund collected from disposal / sale of RBM.

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 This activity will promote the emergence of the primary succession species, hence it will be a silvicultural operation, extremely important for maintaining ecology and environment of the area  This helps in regeneration & establishment of pioneer species like Shisham & Khair on the banks of rivers besides saving agricultural land & land cutting

 Socio-Economic Environment

This project will provide employment to the people residing in vicinity as about 26000 man days will be generated annually and approximately 36 people are to be benefited directly or indirectly by the project. Only local labour will be used for the proposed mining operation. Approx. 15% to 20% of local people are dependent upon riverbed collection works.

 Anticipated impacts and evaluation

The field survey conducted based on a questionnaire prepared to understand the knowledge and the perception of the people living around the project area, gives a clear idea about the need for the project.

This proposed mining activity is the livelihood of more than 30-40% of the local population. This activity will help raise the socio-economic status of the people who are directly and indirectly involved. It has also come to light that if this activity is not activated, then the affected groups will tend to participate in other illegal activities.

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