The Impact of Rock Quarrying Around Ahmednagar City

Stone quarries and stone crushing are a global phenomenon and have been a cause of concern everywhere. Stone quarrying around Ahmednagar city which lies in between 19 02' 50'' N to 19 07' 44'' N latitude and 74 35' 16'' E to 74 48' 00'' E longitude, has seen tremendous growth in the last decade. The quarrying activities have grown because of the growing urbanization, enormous demand for housing and abundant availability of rocky hills in the surroundings. It has enormous impact on the environment, people and ecology. For the present study, three areas around Ahmednagar city were selected and a total of 33 quarries were distributed in these areas. All the sites were visited and the people were interviewed. Traffic flow survey was conducted to find out the frequency of quarrying vehicles plying back and forth from the quarrying sites. It was found that the growth of quarrying activity has put enormous pressure on the rare vegetal cover in this drought-prone area. Further, lots of air and noise pollution have been created due to the blasting and the grinding processes. In addition, the traffic survey data showed that more than 9% traffic flow was added in the area by the frequent movement of the dumpers and the tractors with the construction material on the congested road between railway station and pipeline road. All these have definitely created a problem for the residents and the commuters in the city. Secondly, the condition of the mine workers were found to be miserable, as a large number of females and their children engaged in stone cutting and load carrying activity in the dusty environment are exposed to life-threatening risks.