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Not done. Gross violation. See section on water for details.

4. Ambient air quality standards to be complied with.

No evidence. Mine was closed.

5. Noise level at the boundary shall conform with noise standards No evidence. Mine was closed.

6. Green belt around lease area and roadside Not done.

7. Clearance of groundwater board for the usage of the groundwater will be obtained, for the conservation of groundwater and to ascertain that there will be no impacts on the groundwater table of the area.

It has further said that only in four pits the groundwater was pumped regularly and in two pits occasionally. Therefore, it has argued that little or no impact on groundwater reserves is possible. 5.1 Groundwater Board EPCA requested the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) for its opinion. The Board has based its recommendations on the data available with it as well as a field survey.

The key issues are :

1. On the issue of the ridge providing a water divide between the two states, the CGWB has maintained that while the surface water divide follows the Delhi-Haryana border, except in the catchment of Bhuria Nala, `the surface water divide may not be the groundwater divide in the strict sense due to secondary porosity and also flat topped nature of the hills.' It also states that the Aravalli hills are highly fractured, jointed and weathered making the major recharge zone for the surrounding areas.

2. On the impact on the groundwater reserves due to mining, the Board has found that its observation wells have shown an increase in groundwater levels in Anangpur, Mangar, after the mining has been stopped in May.

Therefore, in spite of monsoon failure and continued abstraction of water, the observation wells have noted increased water levels within just 2 months of the mining being closed.

The groundwater levels in a tube well monitored in Mewla Maharajpur during mid July and first week of August showed a rise of 0.18 metres, A higher rise - 0.71 to 0.78 metres was observed in the two tube wells near the Mangar mines and Pali mines in the two months since the mines were closed. This clearly points to the impact of mining on groundwater reserves.

This fact was also confirmed in the interviews done by EPCA at site.

3. CGWB also notes that contrary to what has been claimed, the mined water is not being pumped into abandoned pits to recharge the groundwater. Instead the groundwater pumped is discharged into the surrounding nalas, leading to "wastage" of groundwater. For instance, in the case of Anangpur mines, the water was pumped into the Bhuria Nala and in the case of Pali, the groundwater was discharged into a nala to the Badkal lake and from Manger mine towards Dhauj lake causing "enormous losses to groundwater resources of the area". The mined water is also full of silt, which reduces recharge as well.