The Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) proposes to set up an LPG Recovery Plant at Usar in Raigad District of Maharashtra. This will facilitate the processing of 5.0 MMSCMD (Million Metric Standard Cubic Meter per Day) of balance gas fields of Bombay High. The Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) has entrusted the Engineers India Limited (EIA), New Delhi to undertake the comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study of the proposed LPG Recovery Plant at Usar. The Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehra Dun was offered a consultancy by EIL to undertake the EIA study of the proposed project. The major objective of the WII study was to evaluate the impact of the proposed LPG Recovery Plant on wilderness values within 10 km radius of the project site.

Reserved and Protected Forests, mangroves, coast and maritime zone are some of the physiographic features of the study area. Ecological assessments were conducted in the predetermined sites within the study area for generating baseline information on the ecological parameters prior to the proposed development.

This technical report is an outcome of the impact assessment studies undertaken during different seasons of the year. Section – I provide information on the project environment and design and also outline the objectives of this EIA study. Section – II presents the approach and the methodology employed for the delineation of the boundaries of the study area and for the assessment of floral and faunal values within the zone of the present study. Section - III is a compilation of the Vaseline information generated on the status of wildlife species and their habitats. Section – IV discusses the results of ecological evaluation of the project and Section – V of the report provides recommendation for better site management and environmental planning.

Dehradun
20th March, 1996

S.K. Mukherjee
 (Director)