Environmental Impact Assessment of Coal Mining: Indian Scenario

Coal mining is a development activity, which is bound to damage the natural ecosystem by all its activities direct and ancillary, starting from land acquisition to coal beneficiation and use of the products. This is so because environmental degradation has affected especially the common property resources such as land and water on which depend the subsistence and well-being of the local community. The study area being the foremost coal producing region of the country also ranked high in the record of environmentally degraded region. Huge areas in the Raniganj and Jharia coalfield in India have become ruined due to abandoned and active mine surface and underground mines. In open cast mines, waste resources are usually stacked as huge dumps in the surroundings. These, coupled with coal dumps, cause noteworthy visual impact. Large vicinity of forest, farming land, and pasture land has been transformed into colliery colonies or into uncultivated land due to rapid expansion of the coal mines. As a result, land use pattern has been changed considerably over last three decades. This study is pursued to assess the impact of coal mining activities on local community and environment.