PRE FEASIBILITY REPORT In Respect Of MAHUMUHAN STONE MINE 9 OVER 2.00 ACRES (0.81 HECTARE) IN VILLAGE MAHUMUHAN, SORO TAHASIL OF BALASORE DISTRICT, ODISHA (FOR THE PERIOD: 2015 16 TO 2019 20) APPLICANT Sri Ananta Charan Bhol Village: Mahumuhan; Po/Ps:Soro, Dist.: Balasore,Odisha 756045.
CHAPTER 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report emphasizes on the feasibility aspect of stone mining from Mahumuhan Stone source at mouza Mahumuhan, Tahasil Soro, comprising an area of Ac.2.00 (0.81 Hectare) in district of Balasore, Odisha. The growing world population is seriously increasing the demand for the resources on earth i.e. land, air, water and so on. In previous days excess population could migrate to more sparsely populated areas, but such options are no longer available or acceptable to civilized society of the new millennium. At the same time, the human societies are becoming more organized not just to ensure that people have sufficient land and natural resources for satisfying the basic needs, but to support the multifarious activities or increasingly complex social and economical behavioral pattern. The globalization process of India has given a boost in the rise of economic upliftment of the society especially in the rural areas of the country. The mass influx of population to rural area has created a greater problem in every walk of rural life, especially in housing, traffic, water supply system etc. The increasing demand for comfortable shelter with all amenities and changes of life style of young generation and higher income/salary of IT people and businessman is the opportunity for the promoters to sell the flats even at the initial stage. To cater the need of the housing and space limitation in the rural area many construction activity are produced. Balasore is not the exception; therefore, to cater for the increasing demands, a number of multi storied residential building, offices, Hotels, roads for connectivity & many more construction activities are coming up in and around the city. Land and water are the basic aspects of development of any economy. Alarming increase in indiscriminate stone mining has caused serious damage to the eco system of Odisha. The increase in demand for stone in the developmental project leads to indiscriminate mining of stone. Mahumuhan Stone Quarry 9 of Mr. Ananta Charan Bhol of village Mahumuhan, PS Soro, Dist Balasore has taken Mahumuhan Stone source at MZ Mahumuhan, Soro, Comprising an area of Ac.2.00 over plot no. 324(P); khata no.741 for the year 2015 16 to 2019 20. This project falls in Category B2 and hence requires prior environmental clearance from the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority, Odisha based on Form I and Prefeasibility report. The stone quarry on the west side of national high way (NH 216) at a distance of about 8Km from the project site. Balasore city is at about 37 km North east of the project site or stone source site where all the facilities are available. Nearest railway station is at Soro which is
about 10Km from the stone mining lease site. Bhubaneswar airport is at a distance of 167 Km is the nearest airport of the project site. (* all are measured by aerial distances). The stone source lease area is situated at Mahumuhan village. The stone quarry represents a gently sloping to almost flat terrain with highest altitude of 64m and lowest 44m AMSL. The general slope is towards south east. There is no human settlement within the area. The stone source lease area will be excavated for the five year (2015 16 to 2019 20). The stone shall be excavated. Mining shall be undertaken to extract stone, mainly through an open pit. Mining shall be carried out by opencast manual method only on single shift basis. Total of 0.084 ha shall be used for stone mining keeping aside area for safety zone, dumping, road metal stack,road area every year for the five year from the date of lease execution. Other facilities like rest shelter, drinking water provisions and other services shall be made available outside the lease area. solid waste shall be generated about 552m 3 during the plan period & hence, waste dump will exist over the area as the entire material to be mined shall be stone and sold locally. The stone is used in raw form without any beneficiation in road, railway and building construction activities. All the production of the stone shall be sold to the local consumers. The project is at present essentially at the concept stage. Consequently there are very few elements which have been fully defined. The impact assessment has therefore necessarily been based on assumptions made regarding various components. From the view point of environmental impact assessment, the uncertainties introduced by having few, if any, hard facts to go on, are considered to have little material effect on either the nature of impacts or the order of magnitude of their significance. The volume of stone per day to be excavated from stone source will involve movements of 01 tipper. The lessee will develop the haul road which will immediately connect from the village or other roads leading to the destinations using their own cost, since there is no point in creating an engineered haul road which would almost certainly be washed away in places several times in the year, or lost completely during a major event. Stone excavation has an short term and reversible impacts on the environment. Every project has some beneficial and destructive impact and the severity of impact in case of stone mining is very low due to its nature and type of mining. The positive and negative impact of the stone mining is assessed in details in the following paragraphs.
A. Positive Impacts Stone has major role in the construction activity like infrastructure development which is one of the backbones of the country s development path. Stone not only plays important role in infrastructural project, but generates lots of revenue to the govt... The annual demand for stone for construction purposes in Balasore area is estimated at more than 2 million tones. Collecting stone and its distribution has become an industry giving job opportunities for thoustones. According to an estimate, stone mining provides direct employment opportunities to over 60,000 registered laborers in the state. On an average, each laborers earns Rs. 250 300/ per day or even more. The indirect employers related to stone mining will be several lakhs. A preliminary survey carried out by some local bodies in some districts stretch, revealed more than 3L over 60% of the laborers engaged in the activity are solely dependent on stone mining and are of more than 35 years old. This clearly narrates the picture of socio economic dimension of the stone mining sector. B. Negative Impacts Taking into consideration the places of occurrences of the adverse environmental impacts of hilly stone, classified the impacts broadly into two categories namely Off site impacts and Onsite impacts. The off site impacts are, primarily, transport related, whereas, the on site impacts are generally channel related. The On site impacts are classified into Blasting impacts and forest impacts. The impacts associated with blasting are noise pollution, air pollution, water pollution. Vibration of earth, which results an earthquake, can reacts to a severe natural calamite. It can destroy all within a second. In stream, stone miming results in the destruction of wild habitat through large changes in the area morphology. Impacts include imbalance in earth morphology, destruction of habitat of wild animals and reptiles. In a recent study it is reported that stone mining from the River over the past few decades has caused notable changes in the eco biology of benthic communities. It is well understood that stone excavation changes the physical characteristics of the hilly area, disturbs the closely linked flora and fauna, and alters the local hydrology, soil structure as well as the socio economic condition of the area in general. All these changes adversely affect organisms either directly by damage to organisms or through habitat degradation or indirectly through disruption of food web.
CHAPTER 2 INTRODUCTION OF THE PROJECT/BACKGROUND INFORMATION 2.1 Identification of Project and Project Proponent. Project: The proposed project is for stone mining from Mahumuhan Stone source at mouza Mahumuhan, Tahsil Soro, comprising an area of Ac. 2.00 over plot no. 324(P) and Khata no. 741 of Mr. Anant Charan Bhol of village Mahumuhan, PS Soro, Dist Balasore, in the State of Odisha. Consistent to the policy of Government of Odisha to encourage local companies & individuals to take up minor mineral quarrying operations (in remote areas of the state) to meet the growth needs of the local economy, Mr. Anant Charan Bhol applied for this stone quarry lease, In mouza Mahumuhan, Soro, Comprising an area of Ac. 2.00, district Balasore, Odisha. The letter of intent Issued by the concerned Tahsildar, Soro is enclosed as Annexure I. The said mining lease is a non forest, stone. The stone shall be transported to the local market by trucks & tractors. Project Proponent: Mr. Anant Charan Bhol (Lease Applicant) Vill.: Mahumuhan, Tahasil: Soro, Dist.: Balasore, Odisha 756045. 2.2 Brief Description of nature of the project. The mining shall be carried out by open cast manual method. Local laborers shall be deployed to excavate the stone and load onto the trucks and tractors depending on the requirement and shall be dispatch. There shall be drilling and blasting carried out within the lease area for mining activity by jack hammer drill. The mining shall be carried out on 8 hourly shift basis. The product shall be transported through 10t capacity tippers to the nearby crushers and sized material will be dispatched directly for construction purpose. There will be no precise height and width of benches during the mining. The mining will be started from one end of the lease area in the upstream side of the lease area and will be continuously excavated as per the area available for mining. The mine will be developed towards the downstream direction. Granite / ordinary stone will be produced at 828m 3 to 1159.2m 3 /annum. The deployment of machine and manpower has been calculated matching with the annual production target.
2.3 Need for the project and its importance to the country and or region. Stone is used in almost any type of construction activity. It is also the most important input in road & building construction activity. Thus in current times, where the focus of the governments is on improvement of basic infrastructure like roads, railways, dams and other social infrastructure both in rural and urban areas, there is a constant need for ensuring regular supply of these minor materials. Further since this project is located in rural area of the state, it also has a potential to generate employment opportunities. Such small/medium scale mining projects can provide an answer to the problem of equitable sharing of benefits from the mineral wealth of this country. 2.4 Demands Supply Gap. India is one of the fastest growing economies of the world, and its focus since last few years has been on infrastructure development. The meterials like stone are one of the basic input in any kind of construction work. Further since these are low value items and voluminous the user of this basic inputs looks for local supply sources instead of transporting the material from far away areas. With hectic construction activity in the area, there is always a constant need of ensuring a regular supply of this basic input. Thus any efforts for increasing minor mineral production in the district must be encouraged to ensure smooth supply of stone to match the pace of developmental activities in the area. 2.5 Imports vs. Indigenous production. Minor mineral demand of the country is entirely met domestically, i.e. there are no imports of such low value minerals. In fact since these minerals are low value high volume items efforts are made to source the material from the nearest point of supply. This is to avoid high cost of transportation and keeping the cost within reasonable limits. 2.6 Export Possibility The country ever going requirement of stone is met domestically. As such there is not much scope of export as there are always supply constraints to meet the country s demand. 2.7 Domestic/export Market All the materials will be dispatched to the local consumers.
2.8 Employment Generation (Direct and indirect) due to the project. Mining operation will be done by open cast manual method. The mine would be worked under the charge of manager supported by adequate number of other qualified person & workers to conduct & supervise operation and assume statutory responsibilities. The locals form the surroundings will be given opportunity & employed in the project. There shall be two manager and eight supervisors along with two office assistants and two attendants. Apart from this, there shall be 18 nos. of unskilled work force shall be deployed for loading of the stone. CHAPTER 3 PROJECT DESCRIPTION
3.1 Type of project including interlinked and interdependent projects, if any. Mahumuhan Stone Quarry project is an open cast manual quarry from where the stone will be transported to local market in the local vicinity of the stone quarry. Taking into consideration location of the project from the environmental point of view, this project does not pose any major adverse impact. 3.2 Location (map showing general location, specific location, and project boundary & project site layout) with co ordinates) Mahumuhan stone quarry Mr. Ananta Charan Bhol of village Mohumuhan, PS Soro, Dist Balasore has taken Mahumuhan stone source at MZ Mahumuhan, Soro an area of Ac. 2.00 over plot no 324(P) and khata no 741 under Balasore district of Odisha. The project area is located in survey of India topo sheet no 73K / 11 with latitude N 21 21 19.5 to N 21 21 22.4 and longitude E 86 39 43.4 to E 86 39 45.1. The location map over SOI Toposheet and revenue map is enclosed as Plate I The Stone Source is well connected with Soro at a distance of about 8Km. The nearest railways station Soro is only at a distance of 10 Km from lease area. The location of the project area has been shown in Location Map. Nature of terrain : Rocky Nature of soil : stoney Seismic zone classification : Zone III 3.3 Details of alternate sites considered and the basis of selecting the proposed site, particularly the environmental consideration gone into should be highlighted. Mining/ quarrying is a site specific activity and there is limitation of choice of location for starting new mines as this is an existing mine. The proposed project is mining of stone from Mahumuhan Stone Quarry. The mining lease area is exposed with distinct hill rock. Hence no such alternative sites have been considered. 3.4 Size or magnitude of operation. The maximum rated capacity of the project will be 828 cub m to 1159 cub m per annum of stone by open cast manual method.
3.5 Project description with process details (a schematic diagram/ flow chart showing the project layout, components of the project etc. should be given). The Mahumuhan stone Quarry is an open cast stone quarry project from where the stone will be excavated. In the initial stage. SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM/FLOW CHART OF MAHUMUHAN STONE SOURCE Primary stone Excavation by Drilling and Blasting Using manual labours Loading Dispatching / Transportation 3.6 Raw materials required along with estimated quantity, likely source, marketing area of final Products, Mode of transport of raw material and finished product. This is a stone resources project to produce stone as a raw material for all construction activity etc. As such no raw material is required for the purpose. Stone will be excavated and shall be sold locally. The mode of transportations shall by road using trucks and tractors. 3.7 Resource optimization/recycling and reuse envisaged in the project, if any, should be briefly Outlined. There is no plan for resource optimization / recycling and reuse envisaged in the project. 3.8 Availability of water its source, Energy/Power requirement and source should be given. Water shall be required for drinking purpose only. Total water requirement for the proposed project is about 100 lit/day. The water shall be made available from the nearby villages.
3.9 Quantity of wastes to be generated (liquid and solid) and scheme for their Management/disposal. 552 m 3 weathered rock is likely to be to be generated during the plan period. Waste material consisting of weathered rock & infertile soil will be removed and dumped within QL area in plan period. As far as possible, waste materials will be compacted and stabilized by dumping the various seized materials in a mixture form. There will be automatic compaction of waste materials during the movement of truck /dumpers while dumping. Grass will be shown over the dumped area to control erosion and dust generation. Retaining wall will be constructed around the waste dump. 3.10 Schematic representations of the feasibility drawing which give information of EIA purpose. Stone excavation operations shall not have serious environmental implications. Such operations with the propose scale will not affect water quality, soil quality, ambient quality, land use, noise level & human settlement. Land Use: This is a non forest land under the revenue class Parbat. The area that will be degraded due to mining and allied activities will degraded due to mining Flora & Fauna: There is no flora and fauna of national importance except the shrubs, bushes and fuel woods. No valuable trees will be uprooted in plan period due to mining operations. Because of lack of forest cover around and close to the lease area, there is no wild animal of any significance has been reported. Safety zone will be utilized for plantation. Quality of Air, ambient noise level and water: Mining operation in the area by open cast manual method. There shall be movement of vehicles like trucks and tractors mainly used during the transportation which may cause dust and gaseous pollution in the nearby area which shall be controlled using various control measures. The source of noise in the area will be due to drilling, blasting and transportation. Noise due to transportation and Movements of trucks shall be temporary on nature. Since, blasting and drilling will be restricted at night time. Covered transportation will be taking place. Water quality of ground water, surface water shall not be affected due to mining activities. Human Settlement:
As it is a non forest land under the revenue class Parbat area there is no human settlement within the lease hold area. Mahumuhan, village is sparsely populated and is at a distance of 1.0Km from lease boundary. Public buildings, place of worship & monuments: The area is devoid of any notable public buildings, National monuments, place of worship etc. There is no Natural park of tourist interest or wild life sanctuary near the area. 4.1 Connectivity CHAPTER 4 SITE ANALYSIS The lease area is well connected with Mahumuhan village at a distance 1.0km. The project site is connected with NH 216 at a distance of 8km bypass.
4.2 Land form, Land use and Land ownership. Particulars Extent of area Land form Land Ownership Current Land use Proposed Land Use Mahumuhan Stone Quarry Site 0.81 Ha Hill area State Govt. Land stone Quarry stone Quarry 4.3 Topography (along with map). The stone source lease area is near to Mahumuhan village. The stone quarry represents a gently sloping to almost flat terrain with highest altitude of 64m and lowest 44m AMSL. The maximum altitude difference is 20m. Overall slope of the area is towards south east. There is neither forest land nor valuable tree growth in the QL area. 4.4 Existing land use pattern (agriculture, non agriculture, forest, water bodies (including area Under CRZ), shortest distance from the periphery of the project of 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. The lease area has been shown in attached location map. The area is devoid of any notable public buildings, National monuments, place of worship etc. There is no Natural park of tourist interest or wild life sanctuary, historical monuments near the area. This area does not fall under notified area water (prevention and control of pollution) Act 1974. 4.5 Existing Infrastructure: This is not a new mining project. However, the lease area is accessible through NH 216, connecting at a distance of 8 Km east of the lease area. 4.6 Soil classification The stone source lease area is a non forest land under the revenue class Parbat area. 4.7 Climatic data from secondary source. Temperature varies from 6 0 C to 40 0 C Annual Rainfall = 2014.27 mm Humidity Varies from = 42 to 96%.
The district of Balasore enjoys extreme climate. The summers are extreme with temperature crossing 40 0 C quite often. The months of April, May and June are particularly oppressively hot. The region receives abundant rainfall in the monsoon months. The winters start in November and continue up to January. Winters can be exceedingly cold with temperature dropping to 6 0 C at times. The annual rainfall is 2114.27mm. Humidity varies from = 42 to 96%. Predominant wind direction is south to north west. Social Infrastructure available. It is a fact that Mahumuhan stone source is located in rural area as where general living condition of the people is medium. This has got a positive impact on the living condition of the local inhabitants. At least, these people have been assured of their daily requirement. Balasore, at a distance of 37km. from the site is the nearest developed area having all facilities. Mining activity in the area shall bring some positive effect like better employment potentiality, better health care, better living, better sanitation conditions, better education facilities etc. CHAPTER 5 PLANNING BRIEF 5.1 Planning concept (type of industries, facilities, transportation etc) Town and Country Planning/Development authority Classification.
This heading is not applicable as the size of this stone source project is very small and is located in hilly area. Where ever required, sanction of the Circle Officer/Block Development Officer will be taken for any planning needs. This is a site specific mining project by opencast semi mechanized method. 5.2 Population Project Stone excavation will be done by open cast manual method. The excavation would be worked under the charge of a manager supported by adequate number of other qualified persons, workers to conduct & supervise operations and assume statutory responsibilities. The locals from the surroundings will be given opportunity and employed in the project as per their credibility for the relevant purpose as above. Besides the direct employment in the mines, indirect engagement may be two to three times. Mining activity in the area has brought some positive effect like better employment potentially, better living, better sanitation conditions, better education facilities etc. 5.3 Land Use planning (breakup along with green belt etc.) Lease area i.e. Non forest Govt. land will be converted for mining by Opencast manual mining method. The lease area is a land owned by the State Government. Stone excavation operations will eventually result in change in topography because of excavation temporarily. However, the nearby areas will not have any adverse effect. 5.4 Assessment of Infrastructure Demand (Physical & Social) Necessary approach roads will be constructed. CHAPTER 6 PROPOSED INFRASTRUCTURE 6.1 Industrial Area (Processing Area) The lease area is in the process to stone mining operations will eventually result in change in topography because of operation temporarily.
6.2 Residential Area (Non Processing Area) There is no proposal for residential colony nearby the lease area. 6.3 Green Belt Green belt over the safety zone during the plan period shall be taken up by year wise plantation of the mine lease. 6.4 Social Infrastructure Soro is the nearest town to the leasehold providing all facilities. Main bus stand is Soro at a distance of 8km from the mine site and is connected by NH216. 6.5 Connectivity (Traffic and Transportation Road/Rail/Metro/Water Ways etc.) The area is accessible by Mangalpur to Soro road at a distance of about 8 km in the east. Soro is at a distance of 8km east of the lease area. The nearest railway station is Soro & nearest airport is Biju Pattanaik Airport. 6.6 Drinking Water Management (Source & Supply of Water) Mahumuhan stone quarry requires water for drinking & sprinkling for dust suppression etc. As the requirement of water is not huge, the mine will draw water from nearby village. 6.7 Sewerage System No sewerage system plan has been envisaged. 6.8 Industrial Waste Management No industrial waste will be generated. 6.9 Solid Waste Management 552m 3 wastes will be dumped in advancing method over an earmarked area in a single terrace of 4m height. Water sprinkling will be conducted over the waste filled haul road for compaction of haul road and dust suppression. 6.10 Power Requirement & Supply/Source Power will not be required for this project.
CHAPTER 7 ANALYSIS OF PROPOSAL (FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS) 7.1 Financial and social benefits with special emphasis on the benefit to the local people including tribal
population, if any, in the area. The project of Mr. Ananta Charan Bhol of village Mahumuhan, PS: Soro, Dist. :Balasore has taken Mahumuhan stone source at Mz.: Mahumuhan comprising an area of Ac. 2.00 for the five year 2015 16 to 2019 20. As per the EIA Notification 2006 and its amendments on 01.12.2009, this project falls under Category B2 and the project required Prior Environmental Clearance from the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority, Odisha. As discussed in the earlier chapters, the proposed mining project to produce raw materials for civil, road and any type of construction is feasible in respect of occurrence of stone resources, mining technology adopted and over all economical viability. The project is located in rural areas of Balasore district where general living condition of the people is medium. Agriculture has not been developed in the region to the extent it should have been. People, therefore, depend mostly on this type of mines or other local work for their livelihood. This has got a positive impact on the living condition of the local inhabitants. At least, these people have been assured for their daily bread. Besides the direct employment of the about 5 person in the mine, indirect engagement may be two to three times. Mining activity in the area has brought some positive effect like easily available of raw material in closure proximity. Etc. On the whole, overall development of the area will be there. In view of the above mentioned benefits, we request to grant us Environmental Clearance (EC).