NOC to UCIL for pre-mining activities
SHILLONG: The state Cabinet meeting scheduled to be held on Monday is all set to revoke the earlier Cabinet decision of August 24, 2009 that gave permission to UCIL to carry out pre-mining activities in West Khasi Hills.
Sources said that with pressure mounting on the state government, the cabinet will review the August 24, 2009 decision.
Commenting on the matter, Chief Minister. Mukul Sangma said, “The government is seized of the situation and a cabinet meeting has been convened on Monday to discuss the issue to arrive at a positive conclusion”.
The Chief Minister reiterated that any decision on uranium mining in Meghalaya will be arrived at only after taking all the people on board.
Sources said that it was the same Congress-led government under the leadership of DD Lapang which on August 24 2009 approved the pre-development activities to be carried out in the uranium mining sites by the UCIL at the const of Rs 209 crore.
Mukul Sangma and Bindo Lanong (UDP) were Deputy Chief Ministers then.
The plan of the UCIL was that out of the total project cost of over Rs 1000 crore estimated by the UCIL, it will spend Rs 209 crore for the pre-developmental activities in the uranium mining sites of West Khasi Hills.
The UCIL had proposed two phases of the project. Out of the total project cost of over Rs 1000 crore, in the first phase they will spend Rs 209 crore for the development activities like const ruction of roads, health centers and educational institutions before starting uranium mining.
In the second phase, the remaining money will be spent once the projects officially start with the approval from the state government.
The plan of the state government in 2009 was to lease out land measuring around 422 acres in West Khasi Hills for 30 years to the UCIL to carry out uranium mining and the royalty to be paid to the state government by the UCIL will be Rs 20 crore a year.
Later on November 4, 2009, the same cabinet decided to keep in abeyance for three months pre- mining activities related to uranium extraction and formed a joint committee, involving experts and pressure groups.
The decision of the government was after a meeting, chaired by chief minister Lapang, with KSU and the Co-ordination Committee of Social Organisations, an anti-uranium mining group.
The meeting in fact had decided not to undertake the Rs 209-crore pre-mining development projects for three months at the mining sites of West Khasi Hills.