. PRE FEASIBILITY REPORT of Stone Quarry (Area – 2.10 Ha) Gat No.- 64/2 (Part), Village – Kharola(kh), Taluka – Yavatmal, Dist- Yavatmal (M.S). Owner and Lessee M/s. Jaswantsingh Oberai Construction Pvt. Ltd. through Shri. Jagjitsingh Jaswantsingh Oberai Prepared by Accredited EIA Consultant EARTHCARE LABS PVT. LTD., C-11, Amar Enclave Commercial Wing, Jog Layout, Prashant Nagar, Near Ajni Square, Nagpur – 440 015. email- [email protected] January-2017 Prefeasibility Report (PFR) (as per MoEF Guidelines vide O.M. J-11013/41/2006-IA.II (I) dtd. 30-12-2010) 1. Executive Summary Yavatmal district is one of the eleven districts of Vidarbha region of Maharashtra and is about 600 km east of Mumbai and 250 km west of Nagpur. It is situated in the northern part of the State abutting Madhya Pradesh and lies between north latitudes 20°16’ and 21°17’ and east longitudes 76°38’ and 77°38’. The district falls in parts of Survey of India degree sheets 55 C, 55 D, 55 G and 55 H. Yavatmal city is the administrative headquarter of Yavatmal District located in Amravati Division. The total area of the district is 5417 sq.km. and its population is 1,818,617 (2011 census) . The district has 7 towns and 1009 villages. For administrative convenience, the district is divided in 15 talukas viz.,Umarkhed, Arni, Mahagaon, Digras, Darwha, Ner, Yavatmal, Babhulgaon, Kalamb, Ghatanji, Kelapur, Ralegaon, Maregaon, Zari Jamni, Wani. The major part of the district comes under Purna-Tapi basin. Purna is the main river flowing through the district. No major mineral is available in the district. Minor minerals as Sand, Stone and Clay are available in the district. The entire district is occupied by Deccan basalt flows with intertrappean beds at places, river alluvia and soils. The deccan trap is generally dark grey, hard and compact. The tops of individual flows are usually vesicular and zeolitic whilst the middle zone is fairly compact and non-zeolitic. Ground water in Deccan Trap Basalt occurs mostly in the upper weathered and fractured parts down to 20-25 m depth. At places potential zones are encountered at deeper levels in the form of fractures and inter-flow zones. The upper weathered and fractured parts form phreatic aquifer and ground water occurs under water table (unconfined) conditions. At deeper levels, the ground water occurs under semi-confined conditions. The yield of dugwells tapping upper phreatic aquifer ranges between 20 and 90 m3/day. Borewells drilled down to 70 m depth, tapping weathered and vesicular basalt are found to yield 2 to 10 m3/day. The scientific development of stone quarry leads to use of basalt rock for infrastructure and construction development activities. During stone quarrying, it is necessary to strike a balance between the development and ecology. The impacts on the environment during stone quarrying can be minimized by implementing a well-planned mitigation measures as suggested in Environment Management Plan. The stone quarry owner is well experienced in operation of stone quarry and about implementation of various environmental measures. The stone quarry under consideration will be further developed scientifically by opencast mining method. The operation at quarry is manual and semi mechanized type. The mining operations will be carried out on a single shift basis. Drilling and blasting operations will be carried out scientifically through experienced & licensed contractors. The various aspects of the Pre-Feasibility Report as per MoEF Guidelines vide O.M. J-11013 /41/2006-IA.II (I) dtd. 30-12-2010 is given in the subsequent sections. 2. Introduction of the Project/Background Information (i) Identification of Project and Project Proponent Stone quarry (Owner and Lessee – M/s. Jaswantsingh Oberai Construction pvt. Ltd. through Shri. Jagjitsingh Jaswantsingh Oberai is existing on Pvt . land (Area – 2.10 Ha). The stone quarry is located near Kharola (kh) village of Taluka – Yavatmal, Dist- Yavatmal (M.S). The location maps of the stone quarry are enclosed as Enclosure - 1. The District Collector, Yavatmal has granted lease to this stone quarry regularly in view of compliances including environmental mitigation measures. The copy of the Mining application, NOC from Grampanchayat, Talathi certificate, 7/12 documents etc are enclosed as Enclosure - 2. The project proponent M/s. Jaswantsingh Oberai Construction Pvt. Ltd. through Shri. Jagjitsingh Jaswantsingh Oberai is in the business of stone quarrying since last several year. The project proponent has office At- Post- Yavatmal, Tahasil- Yavatmal, District- Yavatmal, State- Maharashtra, Pin code- 445001. The Project proponent has wide experience in the field of stone quarrying & Crushing. He is operating the stone quarry with all precautionary measures and taking measures for environmental conservation. The stone material is supplied for infrastructure development, construction activities etc. (ii) Brief description of nature of the project The stone quarry is basically a very small scale project in which quarrying of minor mineral stone is carried out. The stone quarries exist in clusters as it depends on availability of stone in the particular area. The murum and stone is excavated out from the rocky land/area during day time. The stone quarry under consideration is existing on Private land at Survey No.- 64/2 (Part), Village- Kharola (kh), Taluka- Yavatmal, Dist- Yavatmal (M.S) and its production rate is low. As per EIA Notification 2006 the stone quarrying falls under Schedule in serial No. 1(a) (i) Mining of Minerals. Based on lease area and general conditions mentioned in the schedule of EIA Notification, the project is categorized as Category B2. (iii) Need for the project and its importance to the country and or region The Stone (Rubble, Murum, Metal etc) is the basic material required for infrastructure development and construction activities. The rapid development the country is directly related to stone quarry. Though the capacity of each stone quarry is very small, there local existence (shortest distance from developmental activity) is very important in view of low transportation cost and comparatively smaller investment in environmental conservation. The existence of stone quarry at each village and taluka level plays important role in getting the regular employment to the locals also. In the Yavatmal District many developmental activities are going on. There is huge demand to stone material and its regular supply can keep the prices in control. The occurrence of Deccan trap is proved a beneficial factor. The stone quarry under consideration is need of the region. (iv) Demand Supply Gap Building construction & developmental activities in Yavatmal District are very good. Yavatmal city is significantly developed and it becomes 3rd largest city of Vidarbha region. The small towns are rapidly developing at all taluka headquarters. The village level building construction activities are also on significant level. These towns and villages are going to develop simultaneously with enhanced pace in future and hence, the demand of the stone materials for building construction in Yavatmal District is rapidly increasing. Road network of the District is quite good. National highway No. 6 passes through the District in a stretch of 128 km. An excellent network of 548 kms of state highway connects the interior parts of the District with the major marketing centers and District headquarters. Besides the above, good network of major District roads, village roads and other roads helps is existing in the District. Reconstruction of NH- 6 and Yavatmal - Hingoli State Highway (40 km in Yavatmal District) into four lanes track is under progress and work likely to be completed in next three years. There are six industrial areas of MIDC in District Yavatmal. In these MIDC areas, regular construction of industries and road development continues and has regular demand of stone materials. One large, four medium and several small scale irrigation dams are under construction in the District and they also require stone materials regularly. In general, there is huge demand of stone material in the district, which also shows increasing trend day by day due to developmental activities. The supply of stone material is solely depends on the existing stone quarries and crushers of the District. The capacity of stone quarries of the District is lower than the demand and there is a supply- demand gap in the District. In general, there is huge demand of stone material in the district, which also shows increasing trend day by day due to developmental activities. The supply of stone material is solely depends on the stone quarries and crushers of the District. The proposed quarry area is the major source of supply of this stone material and hence the Stone quarry under consideration will prove to be helpful in fulfilling the supply-demand on regular basis, provided the quarry operation is continued. (v) Imports Vs. Indigenous Production The stone materials can not be imported as it is abundantly available indigenously in the District. The transportation cost and distance criteria for immediate supply are the major factor of these small scale enterprises/units. Deccan trap basalt deposits of Yavatmal are good in quality and indigenous production is only better option in view of its economy, fuel conservation, environmental conservation etc. (vi) Export Possibility At present, the stone materials are not exported out. (vii) Domestic/Export Markets The market in the district for stone materials is well established and regular demand is fulfilled to the possible extent by the stone quarries. The local associations of the stone quarries are active in the District. An association regularly monitors market requirement, production targets and other activities for environmental conservation. (viii) Employment Generation (Direct and Indirect) due to the project The stone quarry under consideration has about 8-9 persons on regular basis. 3. Project Description (i) Type of project including interlinked and interdependent project, if any In this stone quarry, mining of minor minerals (stone) is carried out by opencast method in one shift only.