SHILLONG: KHADC CEM Adelbert Nongrum on Tuesday reiterated that the Council will strongly object to any fresh move by the Central government to facilitate uranium mining in Meghalaya.
“We have got feed backs from several NGOs about attempts by the Union Government to illegally mine the uranium deposits in Khasi Hills. We are on the job to verify if the inputs given by the NGOs are true,” Nongrum said on Tuesday.
Earlier on Monday, the HYC had set a deadline of one week for the KHADC to act against a company which, according to the group, was engaged in mining uranium in South West Khasi Hills.
Nongrum claimed that there was some ‘hidden agenda’ behind the Centre’s decision to sanction construction of the two-lane Nongstoin-Domiasiat-Mawthabah road at a cost of Rs. 470 crore.
“If the Centre is really concerned about the development of the State then it should have allotted road project in other parts of West Khasi Hills as well. But this two-lane project is definitely connected with the proposed uranium mining,” Nongrum said.
The KHADC CEM recalled that in 2009, the State Government had misled the people and had leased 422 hectares of land in uranium rich West Khasi Hills to Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) for 30 years to undertake the pre-project developmental works.
Nongrum further stated that they will not allow the Centre to mine the uranium at any cost on the ground that it would degrade the environment and precipitate health hazards in and around the mining areas.
“We do not want our people to suffer from various dreadful diseases due to the radiation caused by uranium mining,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mawlai MDC P.T. Sawkmie also said that he will continue to oppose uranium mining in South West Khasi Hills and asked the Atomic Energy department to abandon the project.
He also expressed concern that the UCIL had remained silent since 2009 and it was only last year that the Centre had revived its plan to mine uranium in the State by announcing the road project to connect the villages having rich deposits of uranium.
The FKJGP also opposed the proposed project.
“As per our information, the Centre has started to initiate the exercise for facilitating uranium mining. We will not allow the Centre to mine the uranium at any cost,” the FKJGP said in a statement.
