SHILLONG, Dec 14: Putting the kibosh on the speculations and claims of uranium leakage, senior UDP leader Bindo Lanong, on Monday, said that there has been no mining of uranium anywhere in Meghalaya so far.
In a statement, Lanong reaffirmed that the Department of Mining and Geology has also verified the same.
“After our recent visit to uranium areas in remote places of West Khasi Hills, it has been confirmed that so far, there has been no mining of uranium anywhere in the state,” he said.
According to Lanong, the KHADC Committee had visited Nongbah Jynrin, Domiasiat areas from Wahkaji to verify the claims of leakage of uranium and its effects on the local populace. However, the local elders rejected such claims.
“What was narrated by the local elders was that reconnaissance of the areas was done years ago, followed by prospecting, which rural people misunderstood as mining. We found on our visit a few abandoned sites where such prospecting activities have been conducted and the debris, free from any radiation, buried under the cemented platforms raised overground, which would have been advisable to bury the same inside pits, to allay any fear and apprehension among lay village folks,” the UDP leader said.
During the Committee’s visit to Nongjri via Nonghyllam across Ranikor Bridge, it was found that Maheshwari Company had carried out prospecting and drilling for quite some time. “It was, however, stopped by the Department in 2012, when I was in the government, in charge of Mining and Geology, after local people complained about the large-scale activities being conducted then,” he said.
“In Nongjri too, we met local people and elders and the abandoned sites, which was buried underground, unlike the Mawthabah Jynrin site,” Lanong added.