JOWAI: The East Jaintia Hills District Administration has, yet again, failed to conduct the public hearing for the proposed limestone and shale mining project by Star Cement at Brishyrnot in East Jaintia Hills as pressure groups, along with the local Dorbar of Lumshnong village council, have raised objection and obstructed the smooth conducting of the hearing.
Pressure groups, including KSU-JHDU, HANM, HNYF-JH, Jaintia Students’ Movement (JSM) and others, protested against the hearing stating that the mining activities will destroy the environment and contaminate the Lukha River, while the Lumshnong village Dorbar raised their voice over communication gap between the district administration and the Dorbar Shnong.
The Assistant Headman, Change Rymbai came to stop the public hearing stating that the Dorbar Shnong was not informed despite the venue for the hearing being set within the jurisdiction of the Dorbar.
The hearing, which was supposed to begin at 11 am, was called off at around 4 pm following strong protest.
The pressure groups did not allow the Additional Deputy Commissioner, East Jaintia Hills, SS Syiemlieh to go ahead with the hearing.
This is the second time that the public hearing for Star Cement has failed due to protests by the local people and various pressure groups.
The first public hearing was slated on January 19 and later postponed to January 30.
Though villagers from Brishyrnot, along with the six Dorbar Shnong and Lukha Association, came to support the protest against the public hearing, it was postponed again for the second time.
It may be mentioned that Star Cement Meghalaya Ltd has proposed to expand its limestone and shale mining over its land measuring 42.051 hectare.
