4.3 Land use planning considerations for mining areas of
India
Land-use planning should basically be done to achieve planning
for best use of land. It is required mainly for those lands which some-how get
the previous land-use completely lost, e.g., mining. However, to make such planning
properly effective it is very much required to have certain considerations as:
a. why planning
b. who should plan
c. on which basis planning should be done
The basic concept being expressed is that if planners of a mining company plan
just on their own decisions, may be based on financial considerations or any to
put the land after mining to certain use, that very use may not suit the exact
situation, e.g., requirement of the society around or the quality of land, soil
etc. On the other hand the fact is, whatever is done for any purpose, any where,
it should ultimately be for betterment of the society around. Hence the planning
for future use of land done with the above considerations only can be an effective
land-use planning. These required considerations are being detailed below.
4.3.1 Why planning
* If a land is put to a use which is not required by the
society around, it will not be able to support any use required by that society
and will act like a wasteland to this society.
* If a land is put to a use which is beyond the lands capability (now a days the
more applicable term is land suitability, of. Sys et al. 1991) it will never be
able to support that and will stand as a wasteland. The country now can't afford
to grow any more wasteland.
*Hence is the requirement of land-use planning as per above concept.
* Simple planning to make certain hectares of green land may not be an effective
LUPg to manage the situation. Thus the more suitable term is land-use management
plan i.e. LUMP (Ghosh 1992).
4.3.2 Who should plan
* Planners are decision makers, because planning is a part
of decision making. Planners are generally the top level officials. In mining
industry they are generally very knowledgeable mining engineers. The plans they
can make definitely suit best the case specific mining conditions and procedures
and so the geo-mining conditions also. So they are to form the main part in the
planners' group. It is expected that they can take care of economic viability
of the plan.
*Side by side, when planning is to be done to develop some other LU after completion
of mining, the plenners group should be well equipped with the knowledge required
to develop the planned LU, to assess whether the land is really capable or can
be made capable to support the desired LU, how to develop it, and also to suggest
suitable technology to make the land capable to support that LU if required and
possible. Thus the planners' group should contain for example, soil scientist,
geomorphologist/forestry men/ agriculturist/ horticulturist if the desired land-use
is to develop greenery. Further, if the desired LU requires any construction the
group should contain civil engineer, engineering geologist, geomorphologist, soil
scientist, structural geologist, hydrogeologist and geophysicist/ seismologist
to analyse the conditions and suggest. However these are quite logical realizations
and it is expected that the ideas will be acceptable to provide technical feasibility
to the plan.
* It happens very often that a techno-economically suitable plan can not be executed
due to objection of local people. To cover this gap the term which appears to
be the most suitable is its "executability". A plan becomes executable (above
all its quality) only if it is accepted by the society around. To meet this purpose
the planners must know the status of the society around, its quality of life and
its requirements. While mining engineers may be ready to spend a huge amount of
money to develop forestry to develop a good environment in the mined-out area,
the people around may be living in hutments and may be feeling their lives endangered
by wild animals invited by the nicely developed forest. Should this society really
like such environmental protection? It is quite justified that they may more like
to get on that land some amenities developed for them, which may be some industry
which will help them to earn their bread and to live in a better way; may be better
habitation facilities with sanitary systems and others, or health care center
or a primary school or even a market. If the society around is already having
all these they may like to have a betterment, like better housing facility, a
hospital, a high school or even a college and a better market. The nature of requirements
will vary with the quality of the society around. If their requirements may be
fitted in the land for which LUPg is to be done, implementation of the plan will
be supported and may be even helped by them, specially if they are involved in
planning and its execution.
The other part of the society is formed by the political parties. No plan can
be implemented under the objection of the political parties around. Probably the
best way to get their support is to give them a showy attractive position in the
planners group. Further, the person of political cader will be representative
of the state authority. His main responsibility should be to see that the activities
planned are within the legal framework.
Thus the planners group should be multidisciplinary in nature including mining
engineer, civil engineer, geologist, soil scientist, botanist/forestry men/agriculturist/horticulturist
etc., some persons of political cader in the region and the representative(s)
of the society around.