4.3.3 On which basis planning should be done
Answer to this point follows from the previous discussions.
The common practice in India till now followed is "planning for desired land-use"
thus the "desire" forms the main basis of planning. To a question about who's
desire should form the main basis? The answer is, before mining the land was being
owned by the people around, also after mining and reclamation is over, it should
go back to the people around. So desires and requirements of the people and hence
the society living around should be given the prime importance.
Next comes its techno-economic-feasibility. Executability/ implementation-possibility
gets the last position in the priority list. The situation becomes more easy to
tackle if executability factor is given the top priority by giving a weightage
to the desire/requirement of the society around while selecting the "desired land-use".
Then should be assessed its technical feasibility, then its economic viability.
The persons of political cader in most cases under such conditions will adjust
their voice with the locals and the industry to grow (at least to get their support).
Thus the basis of planning should be:
a. requirement (and desire) of the society around & legal frame work
b. technical feasibility
c. economic viability
The "requirement" and "desire" of the society around may not tally with each other
in all cases e.g., a society may be rural enough to like more a cottage industry
to generate liquor than to have a primary school. They may not feel any need for
a health centre, rather they may feel that primitive methods like "Ojha" or "Worshipped
water" are sufficient for getting rid of physical problems. Under such conditions
the NGOs are to be involved to make them realize the reality, and to tally their
desire with their requirement.
To meet the requirements of above considerations, certain basic principles listed
below should be followed in any exercise for LUPg for mining areas.
* The aspirations and requirements of the society around should be given prime
importance.
* The total exercise should aim towards improving the QoL of the society around.
* Placement of newly planned LU should disturb the surrounding ecosystem a minimum.
* The new land-use should improve the aesthetic beauty of the area.
* Development of this planned land-use should be techno-economically feasible
There are some more points as listed next which follow from the above priorities
(specially the second one).
* The set-up should be such that all utility areas will have good communication
facility.
* Certain specific LUs e.g. hospital, school etc. should have proper access but
not much of interaction or disturbance.
*There should be proper water supply and drainage system as required by the new
LU.
4.4 Priorities of land-use planning for mining areas of India
To combat the above problems it is felt necessary to list
the following priorities, to take care of which should be inbuilt in the LUPg
system for MAs.
* Aspirations and requirements of the local people should be given prime importance
in deciding the use of a land (of course, within the limits of the quality and
characteristics of the land and legal frameworks) so as to improve the QoL of
the people around.
* Placement of newly planned LU should disturb the surrounding ecosystem a minimum
and improve the aesthetic beauty of the area.
* LUPg should be a continuous process to be reviewed again and again considering
all the controlling factors i.e. local peoples aspirations, land quality and regional
requirements.
* Thus LUPg should be not for any final use rather for sequential uses.
* Water balancing and watershed management should form integral parts of LUPg
because no plan can be successful without balanced availability of water.
* The total exercise should be techno-economically feasible.
* Whatever be the plan, hot-spots (Annexure - I) require immediate attention and
absolute protection.