Govt seeks report on death of aquatic life in B’desh

SHILLONG: The State Government has sought a report from the South West Khasi Hills district administration to find out the veracity of the media reports in Bangladesh that aquatic life was affected by drilling of uranium in Ranikor.
The Daily Star recently reported that the open pits of uranium mining are killing aquatic life in rivers and haors (wetlands) in Bangladesh’s Sunamganj district.
When contacted, Additional Chief Secretary in charge of Mining and Geology Department Yeshi Tsering said the government does not have any knowledge about Bangladesh suspecting a link between uranium mining and perishing aquatic life.
He, however, said the department has sought a report from the Deputy Commissioner of South West Khasi Hills about the mining activities in the district.
The report published in the Bangladesh media said that an outcry across the border over the impact of uranium pits made experts in the country concerned about a likely link.
So the Bangladeshi government recently sent a team of experts to Sunamganj to collect water samples from the wetlands there for examination at Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission.
The report adds that India’s Khasi communities living in the Ranikor basin across the Indo-Bangla border near Sunamganj’s haor zone, raised an alarm after fishes in the local river died due to what they suspect was uranium toxins from an estimated 1,500 drilling pits kept open and exposed in the vicinity.
“There is no proof yet but if uranium is indeed linked to it, Bangladesh’s wetland and the river system connected to it will suffer, affecting aquatic species and humans alike, experts have warned,” the Bangladeshi media said.