MAWKYRWAT: With the state government and the South West Khasi Hills district administration denying any explosion in the uranium tank in Nongbah Jynrin, South West Khasi Hills, the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) has now accused Chief Minister, Conrad Sangma, and South West Khasi Hills DC, Cara Kharkongor, of misleading the people.
KSU SWKH president, Forwardman Nongrem, after inspecting the site, claimed that the cracks in the uranium tanks, which have been there for years, have widened.
“Even though we cannot jump to any conclusion on whether there was any explosion or not because our team could not visit all the tanks due to the downpour, yet we found the holes on the tank,” Nongrem said, adding “one thing we know is that there is no doubt that there has been a leakage from the tank”.
Nongrem said the Union was flabbergasted at the chief minister’s recent statement pertaining to the uranium tank.
Nongrem also expressed surprise at the chief minister’s statement that he had informed the Atomic Minerals Division (AMD) and the Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) about the incident (reported explosion of the effluent tank).
‘‘To say that the news about the cracks on the uranium ore tanks were ‘fake news’, despite the Union along with journalists unearthing the facts, is an attempt to blame us (KSU) of spreading fake news. We want to clarify that we never talk about fake news or ghost news, but we wanted the people of the state to know the truth,” he said.
Demanding of the government to immediately repair the holes and cracks on the uranium tank, Nongrem asked, “Where is your responsibility as leaders or have you become agents of someone? Do you need a mass disaster to expose all your lies?”