Reclamation of Mining Land through Livestock Rearing in Mining II

Reclamation of Mining Land through Livestock Rearing in Mining II

Neyveli: A MoU has been reached between NLCIL and Ms. Vyakthi Vikas Kendra India (VVKI), Bangalore, an organization with expertise in the field, to take up Land reclamation through rearing of live stocks as a pilot project.
 
Land reclamation works in Mine II were first taken up during ‘1995-’96. Till date, an area of about 874.50 hectares has been reclaimed and 670.50 Ha have been Afforested till 31st March 2019. Now, it is proposed to reclaim 70Ha of Mined out land and carry out afforestation over an area of 50 hectares during this year. 
           
At present, Land reclamation activity is being carried out in Mines using the integrated farming (IF) method by planting various types of tree species, etc., to restore the pre-mined ecological equilibrium or to return such areas to an ecologically acceptable mining land.
 
Land reclamation through Rearing of live stocks:
 
Now, Land reclamation is sought to be undertaken through rearing of live stocks, which entails restoring the land in the shortest period by increasing the biomass of the soil through live stock rearing which is sustainable land restoration through integrated natural resource management. This method is a unique approach in land restoration which integrates three key disciplines such as Cattle Rearing, Watershed Development and Planned Grazing. Once the top soil generation process is initiated it is self sustaining and gradually grasses can be replaced by shrubs and shrubs by dry land trees.  
 
Methodology:
 
The Project has been started on Pilot basis with  36 ha land, while 10 Ha will be earmarked for growing fodder for the cattle, 25 Ha will be the reclamation area.
 
Timeline:
 
The Pilot project  is for five years with 24 months for Land reclamation. 
 
Benefits:
 
The expected benefits will be (i) Rapid reclamation of land  with rapid greening of NLC Mine spoil dump by sustainable land restoration through Integrated Natural Resource Management, which will help in less land preparation and maintenance, (ii) Capacity building - Local people (PAPs) and rural communities from nearby villages will be trained and deployed to maintain the live stocks including cultivation of fodder crops etc., and thus will help to generate employment, (iii) Sustainability: Once top soil generation process is initiated, it is self sustaining and gradually vegetation growth occurs naturally with long life spans.
 
The MoU was signed by Shri Hemant Kumar, ED (Mines) and Shri Rohit Sikka, a Senior Official from M/s. Vyakthi Vikas Kendra India (VVKI), Bangalore, in the presence of Shri Rakesh Kumar, CMD, Shri R. Vikraman, Director (HR), Shri Prabhakar Chowki, Director (Mines), Shri T. Venkatasubramanian, CVO, and senior officials of NLCIL.

Read Also : SAIL DSP and EMD signs agreement with Sentra World