SHILLONG: Meghalaya Chief Minister, Conrad Sangma too has stated that he was not in favour of mining of uranium in the state.
The statement came from the Chief Minister before a delegation of the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) which met him here on Thursday and submitted a nine-point memorandum.
KSU General Secretary, Donald V Thabah later told reporters that the Chief Minister had stated that the State Government was with KSU and they too didn’t want uranium mining in Meghalaya.
“He (CM) agreed that uranium will not be mined until people are convinced and said that he is against uranium like us,” Thabah said.
During the meeting, the KSU asked the State Government to act as a barrier on Central Government’s plans to mine uranium in the state and added that the State Government should take care of the people of the state who are totally against uranium mining.
On the other hand, KSU President Lambok S Marngar said, “The Union’s message to Central and State Government is let us close the chapter of uranium mining in Meghalaya.”
When asked about the issue of Inner Line Permit (ILP), KSU General Secretary, Donald V Thabah said the Union still wanted the implementation of ILP in the state and it would be better to have more mechanism in the state to check influx apart from ILP, entry and exit points and the Government can even incorporate some laws from other states to check issues of influx.
“The more mechanism we have to control influx, the better it will be for us,” he said
In the meeting, KSU also demanded that the implementation of ILP should be deliberated at length by MLAs in the ongoing budget session of the Assembly.
When asked about the recent discussion of issuing work permits to Bangladeshi citizens, he said that the KSU did not want work permits to be issued for unskilled and semi-skilled sectors.
The KSU, meanwhile, reiterated that Meghalaya should be exempted from the purview of the Indo-Nepal treaty besides expressing its stiff opposition to railways in the state until and unless effective and strong laws are put in place to check influx.
The students’ body also urged the State Government to facilitate the inclusion of Khasi language in the 8th Schedule besides urging the Government to revamp the mode of examination conducted by the Meghalaya Public Service Commission.