Impact of Coal Mining on Vegetation: A Case Study in Jaintia Hills ...

IMPACT OF COAL MINING ON VEGETATION: A CASE STUDY IN JAINTIA HILLS DISTRICT OF MEGHALAYA, INDIAPrakash and Gupta (1998) studied the land use/ land cover changes <strong>of</strong> Jharia coal field <strong>of</strong> India andconcluded that there were gradual decrease and threat to the vegetation present in the area wheremining was prominent. Ghosh (1998) emphasized that due to the consequences <strong>of</strong> mining activitiesthere were thorough change in the natural topography <strong>of</strong> the region.1000Area (km 2 )1001011975 1987 1999 2001Years<strong>Mining</strong> area Dense forest Grassland/ Non-forestOpen forest Settlement Cropped areaFigure 4.10: Area under different land use/ land cover categories in different years.(a)(b)Figure 4.11: <strong>Mining</strong> operation attracted people from far-flung areas. Growth <strong>of</strong> urbancentre (a) and hamlets (b) around mines are the result <strong>of</strong> mining.(a)(b)Figure 4.12: Unsuccessful forest plantations were carried out by the Govt. Departments onthe mine spoils.54