Wahkaji-Mawthabah project
SHILLONG: The High Court of Meghalaya has given central government counsel, R. Deb Nath, two weeks’ time to file a specific affidavit as to whether the construction of Nongstoin-Pambriew-Wahkaji-Mawthabah road was intended to facilitate uranium mining as claimed in the affidavit filed by KHADC.
The Court was hearing a PIL filed by the Joint Action Committee on Two Lanes Road, Nongstoin, on Tuesday.
The affidavit seeks to assert that there had been a notification issued by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways on Special Accelerated Road Development Programme for North East (SARDP-NE) as on July 5, 2010, (Annexure-1) with the objective of upgradation of Nongstoin-Pambriew-Wahkaji-Mawthabah road for “facilitating mining of uranium in Meghalaya”.
It was submitted that the same objective has been stated in relation to three other roads in the same sector and these propositions have led to a widespread resentment among locals, authorities, various Durbar Shnong and NGOs.
The High Court, however, said the document appears to be incomplete and it is difficult to find if the same had been a notification issued by the Ministry.
Looking at the ambiguity, the central government counsel was requested to take up the matter, but after having attempted telephonic conversation with the authorities concerned, he submitted that he would require a few days’ time to clarify the matter before the Court.
However, the counsel for the petitioner has referred to a communication of May 23, 2016, of the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited and contended that the Corporation had already clarified the position that they were not directly or indirectly linked with the Uranium Corporation of India Limited and that the construction activity in question was for the development of road infrastructure in the State.
“We are afraid, the requisite clarification on the issues as raised by KHADC in their communication ought to be supplied by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and cannot be stated by the agency entrusted with the task of executing the project,” the Court said. KHADC had already addressed two communications on May 10 and June 9 of 2016 to the Ministry seeking clarification on the objective of upgradation of the highways, but such a clarification has not been supplied by the Ministry as yet.