ENvIRONmENTAL mANAgEmENT PLAN (EmP) Page -45 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR GRANITE BUILDING STONE QUARRY UNIT OF MR. S. VINOD IN ENADIMANGALAM VILLAGE, ADOOR TALUK, PATHANAMTHITTA DISTRICT, KERALA STATE 1. INTRODUCTION ABOUT THE PROJECT/PROPONENT The proposal is for Building Stone Quarry Unit of Mr. S. Vinod in Survey No 340/1/103/2 (P), 340/1/103/3 (P) & 340/1/104 (P) over an extent of 0.6010 Hectare in Enadimangalam Village, Adoor Taluk, Pathanamthitta District, and Kerala State. Building stone is a key and basic ingredient for the construction of infrastructure projects which is a specialized job involving high degree of safety and statutory compliance besides being carried out by qualified mining personnel. The Project Proponent is a private individual. The main objective to be pursued by the applicant is to carry the business of prospecting, exploring, operating and working on mines and quarries. The main market for Building stone is in nearby towns and will be utilized in construction works of buildings and roads. Environmental Management Plan (EMP) aims at the conservation of ecological system by considering in-built pollution abatement facilities at the proposed quarry site. Sustainable development in the project area needs to be intervened with judicious utilization of non-renewable resources of the project area and within the limits of permissible capacity. The assimilative capacity of the project area is the maximum amount of pollution load that can be discharged in the environment without affecting the designated use and is governed by dilution, dispersion and removal due to physico-chemical and biological processes. The EMP is required to ensure sustainable development in the project area of 5 Km radius of the proposed quarry site under study; hence it needs to have a plan for encompassing the proposed activity. Government regulating agencies like Pollution Control Board working in the region and more importantly the people living in the project area need to extend their co-operation and contribution. It has been evaluated that the project area will not be affected adversely with the proposed activity and likely to get new economical fillip, not only for the project area but also for the region as a whole. Mitigation measures at the source level and an overall management plan at the project area level are elicited so as to improve the supportive capacity of the receiving bodies. The EMP aims at controlling pollution at the source level to the possible extent with the available and affordable technology followed by treatment before they are discharged. 2. DETAILS OF ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING OF PROPOSED AREA Sl. No. Particulars Details 1 LOCATION:- A Village Enadimangalam B Taluk Adoor C District Pathanamthitta D State Kerala E Survey No. 340/1/103/2 (P), 340/1/103/3 (P) & 340/1/104 (P) F Extent 0.6010 Hectares Page -46 Sl. No. Particulars Details G Topo sheet No. 58-C/16 H Latitude 09°06'33.00"N 09°06' 36.30"N I Longitude 76°49’20.18”E 76°49’23.95”E J Water Requirement 15 KLD 2 Elevation Highest 100 m RL to Lowest 70 m RL 3 Land use at the project area Patta land, applicant owns the land. About 101 meters East of the proposed area of 4 Nearest habitation Enadimangalam Village 5 Seismic zone Zone III, Moderate damage risk zone as par BMTPC, vulnerability atlas seismic zone of India IS: 1893 - 2002. There is no history of flood, earthquake, cloud burst and landslide reported so far. Environmental Sensitivity Sl. Areas Name & Distance No Areas protected under international There are no such protected areas like conventions, national or local legislation for 1 ecological landscape, cultural area etc. their ecological, landscape, cultural or other identified within the 5 Km radius. related value Areas which are important or sensitive for ecological reasons - Wetlands, watercourses or 2 No Rivers located within 1km radius other water bodies, coastal zone, biospheres, mountains, forests Areas used by protected, important or sensitive species of flora or fauna for breeding, There is no protected sensitive species are 3 nesting, foraging, resting, over wintering, identified within the 5km radius. migration 4 Inland, coastal, marine or underground waters No Rivers located within 1km radius There is a No State and National boundary 5 State, National boundaries within 5 Km radius. Routes or facilities used by the public for (SH-5) Kayamkulam – Punalur Road which 6 access to recreation or other tourist, pilgrim is about 725 M East areas No defense installation found 5km near the 7 Defense installations site 8 Densely populated or built-up area Enadimangalam (100 M North West) Areas occupied by sensitive man-made land Kunnida Devi Temple (1.8 KM North uses West) 9 Sasthamkavu Temple (1.8 KM South West) (hospitals, schools, places of worship, Pathanapuram Juma Masjid (4.5 KM South community facilities) East) Page -47 St. Stephen's CSI Church (1.6 KM South East) Areas containing important, high quality or scarce resources(ground water resources, 10 None within 5 km radius surface resources, forestry, agriculture, fisheries, tourism, minerals) Areas already subjected to pollution or 11 environmental damage. (those where existing None within 5 km radius legal environmental standards are exceeded) Areas susceptible to natural hazard which Zone III, Moderate damage risk zone as par could cause the project to present BMTPC, vulnerability atlas seismic zone of 12 environmental problems(earthquakes, India IS: 1893 - 2002. There is no history of subsidence, landslides, erosion, flooding or flood, earthquake, cloud burst and landslide extreme or adverse climatic conditions) reported so far. 2.1 Physiography /Topography Part of the proposed land is already under quarrying and the remaining proposed land is covered with native trees, shrubs, herbs, grass, climbers, bushes etc. The topography of the lease area is hilly. The highest elevation of the lease area is 100 m RL and lowest is 70 m RL. The proposed area is hill slope and the drainage of the lease area is towards South. No habitations are located in the lease area. 2.2 Geology of the area The district from east to west may be divided into four belts according to geological formations occurring in this region. The belts are oriented north to south and consist of – 1) A belt of crystalline rocks of archean group 2) A belt of residual laterite 3) A narrow belt of Warkalli beds of the tertiary group and 4) A western most belt recent deposits. The crystalline rocks of this district consist of leptynites and charnokites and few ultra basic intrusive. Gabbro, dolerite and dunite rocks are also seen existing in some parts of the district. Occurring as a belt west of the archean crystalline rocks the residual laterite is the resultant product of the insitu alteration of those rocks. The Warkalli formation consists of a succession of sandstone and variegated clays, and in certain pockets of thin lenses of lignite. The beds range in age from upper Miocene to Pliocene. At Parvoor and in the neighborhood of Kollam, a highly fossiliferous limestone is seen underlying the Warkalli beds. This in Indian geology is known as the Kollam limestone. Recent deposits include the renowned placer deposits (karimanal) of Chavara and neighborhood. They are extensively exploited. Page -48 The district is underlain by crystalline rocks of Archaean age above which sedimentary formations of Miocene to Recent ages are seen. Groundwater occurs in all the geological formations from Archaean crystalline to recent alluvium. The quality of water in the coastal aquifer is generally good however there is considerable change in the quality of groundwater along the coastal stretch. Groundwater pollution is being reported from two areas of the district namely Chavara and Pozhikara. Because of the highly porous nature of the laterite, the dug wells tapping laterite get recharged fast in the initial stages of monsoon showers itself, however this water escapes as sub-surface flow and the water level falls quite fast especially in wells located on topographic high and slopes. The shift in the pattern of crop cultivation from paddy to cash crops has also affected the pattern of natural recharge and consequent fall in water level. The deployment of pumps for irrigation and indiscriminate rampant construction of bore wells / dug wells has also added to the problem. The main rocks are granite biotite gneiss with migmatite, Hornblende-gneiss Qz-felspatic-gneisse, charnockite, coastal sand, khondalite, laterite, quartzite, and sandstone. (Source :- Geography of Kollam District Booklet, Kerala State) Local Geology – The local geology belongs to the regional geology. Main rock type in the study area is charnockite. At places where they are exposed, the charnockite is medium to coarse grained with dark grey quartz. The topsoil & over burden thickness varies from avg.0.20 m to 0.30 m. topographically; the area is hilly with slope towards east. The surface cum geological plan of the lease area is enclosed at Plate – VII. 3. MINING PROCESS: 3.1 Method of Mining Open cast Semi-Mechanized Mining with 5.0 meter vertical bench with a bench width is not less than the bench height will be adopted. As far as the quarrying activity is concerned, observance of the provisions of Regulation 106 (2) (b) of MMR – 1961 is essential. Hence it is proposed to obtain permissions from the Director of Mines Safety for which necessary provision is available with the Regulation 106 (2) (b) of MMR-1961, under Mine Act - 1952. Splitting of rock mass of considerable volume from the parent rock mass by jackhammer drilling and blasting, hydraulic excavators are used for loading the Granite building stone into the tippers and then the stone is transported from pithead to the nearby crushers.