The Saryngkham A will carry out an open-cast mining of coal over an area of 148 hectares at Byndihati village, East Jaiñtia Hills district.
As per the Draft Environmental Impact Assessment/Environmental Management Plan, the Saryngkham coal mine will extract 0.45 metric tonne of total coal reserves for 12 years, which covers seven years life of the mine and five years as post-closure period and reclamation.
According to the plan, coal extraction will be done by using shovel-dumper combination in an opencast mechanised method.
The project site is surrounded by 54 villages with 7602 households.
While air pollution is likely to be caused at various stages of mining operations such as excavation, drilling, blasting, loading and transportation of material, Saryngkham plans to adopt wet-drilling to avoid dust generation. Besides installing wind screens using green nets and wire fences to restrict the movement of dust, the company said dust that may arise from coal stacks and OB dumps by strong winds which will be controlled by planting fibrous species of grasses and other native shrubs.
The company also assured to construct garland drains along the overburden dump and quarry area to prevent water pollution and build tanks for rainwater harvesting and to control blasting methods by using millisecond delay detonators and relay systems to reduce both noise levels and blast vibrations.
It said that all workers shall be equipped with protective gear such as earplugs, and earmuffs as well as soundproof and dustproof cabins would be installed in machinery such as dozers, shovels, dumpers, feeder breakers, etc. A separate budget and quarterly health check-ups, which will include audiometric tests, will be given to workers, the company added.
The company said precautions will be taken up at the site for controlling noise and blast vibrations in adjoining project areas by adopting controlled muffled blasting technique.
It further plans to re-vegetate approximately 108.64 hectares of land after the end of mining operations and 24 hectares would be converted to a water body.
The estimated project cost is around Rs 2700 lakhs. The project proponent will set aside Rs 150 lakhs to mitigate environmental impacts due to this mining project through its Corporate Environment Responsibility (CER) Programme.
As per the assessment, the project would create indirect employment opportunities to local people and improvement in communication, education, community development and medical facilities. It said that the project will help in socio-economic development of the area and also the state and develop infrastructure facilities in and around the project area.
