Determinants of Pitlake Usage in Raniganj Coalfield Region, West Bengal: Implications for Sustainable Use

Debnath Palit1*; Aparajita Mukherjee; Debalina Kar; Sharmila Roychowdhury; Babli Garai; Piyali Kar; Santanu Gupta

Abstract

Aquatic environment like lakes are bestow with good and life supporting environment. Surface mining generated pit lakes though limits this proposition but there are exceptions. Utilization of Pit lakes in Raniganj Coal field region, West Bengal have been investigated during 2014-2016. Around 7 uses/Pitlakes on an average were observed with a maximum of 11uses/pit lake(s) in the studied region. Older pit lakes having better ecological health than younger one are characterized by greater number of uses. Similarly it was established that Recreational fishing (CCA score = 0.8906), Food source use (0.8874) and Domestic use (0.8721) are the highly performed practices in these pit lakes based on the ecological attributes and human preference study. Notable observation from the study include relatively old pitlakes are used as collection sites for food source (0.9251) followed by recreational fishing (0.9212) and domestic use (0.9078) by the inhabitants in surrounding villages/locality.

Keywords

Water, Pitlake use, Coal mines, CCA, Ramsar, Sustainable use.

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Cites this article as

D. Palit1*, A. M. , D. K. , S. R. , B. G. , P. Kar, S. G. , "Determinants of Pitlake Usage in Raniganj Coalfield Region, West Bengal: Implications for Sustainable Use", International Journal of Innovative Research in Engineering & Management (IJIREM), Vol-3, Issue-2, Page No-72-79, 2016. Available from: