MEETING HELD ON 18th-19th JUNE 2012 IN SCOPE COMPLE

40not include the villages but encompasses their lands. The ML area includes190.13 ha (3.64 ha Government land + 6.74 ha grazing land + 179.75 ha ofprivate land) belonging to Nimbri village and 159.87 ha (9.32 ha Governmentland, 37.01 ha of grazing land and 113.54 ha of private agricultural land)belonging to Kuchera village. The mode of mining is open cast with 0.5MTPA,and the lignite is meant for their captive Power Plant located at Sirohi about350km from the project. The 293.29 ha private land is prime agricultural land thatyields three crops in a year and is irrigated by tube-wells. The striping ratio is1:33. The working depth of mine will be 90m bgl (221m RL) and water tablevaries from 60-70m bgl. The confined aquifer containing brackish/saline waterhas been reported at a depth of 97m or more. Of the total ML area, the quarryarea is about 280.69 ha, area for storage of top soil is 3.38 ha, external OBD is55.996 ha, infrastructure is 0.35 ha, roads is 1.5 ha and green belt is 8.4 ha. Atthe end of mining it is proposed that 179.41 ha of total 280.41 ha of excavatedarea will be backfilled and reclaimed as agricultural land and a void of 101 ha willbe left for ground water recharge. Transportation of coal from mine to CPP isproposed by road.About 40 landowners out of total 107 landowners live in the lease area andothers use land for agriculture and their houses are located in the villages outsidethe lease area.4.0 Observations on the site proposed4.1 Farm landsThe ML area is a flat fertile agriculture land interspersed with grazing lands andNadis (Figure ). The surface drainage of 375 mm annual average rainfall isdrained into several scattered low lying depressions locally known as ‘Nadis’which are common areas. The soil appears to be sandy loam with relatively highinfiltration rates. There are several tube wells used to raise a minimum of 3 cropsper year or more depending upon the growth seasons of crops. Many farms haveFoeniculum, Allium, many vegetables, Trigonella, Brassica, Cuminum andCoriander. During monsoon, crops such as moong, moth, guar, bajra and til aregrown and during winter wheat is grown extensively.4.2 ‘Nadis’These are low lying natural depressions which receive surface drainage from thesurrounding fields and grazing lands. These unique landforms not only rechargeground water but also provide water for irrigation, and drinking and serve aswater source for livestock and wildlife and bathing & washing. The locals havebeen expanding and deepening these ‘Nadis’. Further, crescent shapedembankments have also been constructed on the side where there were nosurface drainage channels. All surface drainage channels pour their contents into‘Nadis’. Some of the ‘Nadis’ are associated with strong religious local beliefs andcultural values. The ‘Nadis’ are an integral part of the lives of locals. There are