Abstract
Stone mining industries in Chapagaon, Lalitpur area is in regular operation since more than 35 years. In this long period, the operators of mines and stone crushing have cleared up the vast area of forest for the purpose of stone mining. As a result the fragile forest ecology, biodiversity and scenery beauty of this area have been widely devastated. Environment of Chapagaon indicates that the destruction of forest area has already affected the local population in terms of declining fresh water sources; drying of wells, reduction on ground water level, livestock productivity and loss of scenic beauty of the place. The agriculture crop yield has also decreased vastly and the area is gradually converting into dry land, the top soils have been eroding and crop plants are being covered with pollutants which are effecting directly or indirectly to the local people. In this paper, health impact of local people, environmental and economic impact of locality by mining industries are examined and evaluated considering questionnaire and available data from several sources such as government publications, related researches, websites and other references. This paper concludes with recommendations in order to control environment pollution, to reduce the impact of gravel, sand and stone mines.
Highlights
Chapagaon is located in the outlying area of the south part of Kathmandu Valley
The agriculture crop yield has decreased vastly and the area is gradually converting into dry land, the top soils have been eroding and crop plants are being covered with pollutants which are effecting directly or indirectly to the local people
Streams of Chapagaon; Nakhu and Karmanasa are disturbing by stone mines and crushing industries, the volume of drinking water has been reduced gradually because of the extraction of upper layer stones and soil of spring catchment area
Summary
Chapagaon is located in the outlying area of the south part of Kathmandu Valley. It is dense traditional settlement area inhabited predominantly by the Newars. The area of Chapagaon VDC (Note 1) is 6.76 km with total population of 12789, out of this 6516 male and 6273 female It is taken one of the fastest growing VDC in Kathmandu Valley. The development prospect of proposed outer ring road of Kathmandu Valley and closeness to the city center of Kathmandu, this area has been an attractive residential location for many migrants (CBS, 2011). In this VDC no proper considerations are made for settlement planning, mining, crushing and management of these. In the past years (2010/11) there were more than 30 stone and crushing industries but in 2012 gradually these reduced below No 9 in Chapagaon and shifted in other neighboring VDCs like Lele, Nallu, Bhardeu etc. (VDC Profile, 2010)
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