Study tour of M.Sc. Environment Management  to the Lambidhar mines

On 27th December 2021, we had a study tour to the Lambi Dehar (or the Lambidhar) mines. The bus arrived at the hostel at 8 AM in the morning. We all soon left the campus and started for our much-awaited destination. We got off the bus and our journey to reach there began. Firstly we walked then, climbed through the rocks and through the paths which were not marked as a road. It was very adventurous, a bit tiring but was a remarkable journey. Our guides told us about the Haunted place there, where it is told that many workers died due to accidents, illness, suicides, or due to some natural calamities which the local people call as unnatural. Then we again climbed to the top of the mine. The limestone mine is an area consisting of 97 ha of land. The mining was an illegal open mining procedure, and several issues like water resources, the runoff, the noise, and the vegetation was profusely affected. The total greenery and all the vegetation rapidly vanished just as smoke disappears in the air. The environment there, the flora( the dense oak forest), fauna and the total balance of the area lost its homeostasis. The locals were very severely affected as they were dependent on this land for fuel and fodder, agriculture and other things. The worker's health was also not taken proper care of, so many of the workers suffered from diseases and the locals also were affected. So keeping all these points in mind, The Supreme Court of India, banned the mining procedure here in 1996. And FRI took the charge of restoring the land. They started growing grasses first to stop soil erosion. After the first shower and some days later the first green lush covered the area like a carpet. Then the trees were introduced there to grow and were intensely taken care of. Now there is good vegetation of different trees like Cupressus cashmeriana, Coraria nepalensis, Alnus nepalensis, Viburnum, Grevillea robusta, etc. We saw the total mining areas and got information about the vegetation, and the fauna. We also also saw one Eurasian Jay. Then we climbed down and had our lunch, then returned back to campus. 

By

Ms. Arunima Sengupta

M.Sc. Environment Management (II Semester)