By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Sep 22: The Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) on Monday urged Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma to convene a special session of the Meghalaya Assembly to adopt a resolution opposing the recent office memorandum (OM) issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
The OM, issued on September 8, exempts the requirement of “public consultations/public hearings” for projects involving mining of atomic minerals such as uranium, a condition that has been mandatory under the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) 2006 process.
In a letter to the Chief Minister, HYC president Roy Kupar Synrem said the Assembly must send a clear message to the Centre by passing a resolution opposing the OM in relation to Meghalaya, while also urging the government of India to abandon any uranium mining programme or proposal in the state.
“Public consultations are vital for any project that impacts local populations,” Synrem said, stressing that such hearings provide communities a democratic platform to voice concerns, ensure transparency, and evaluate environmental and social impacts.
He warned that the exemption undermines this process, silencing affected communities and threatening their existence.
Calling the OM a direct attempt to weaken community rights, Synrem said the council will launch awareness campaigns in West Khasi Hills, South West Khasi Hills, and Shillong.
He said that this campaign aims to inform citizens about the implications of the OM and to build collective resistance against any uranium mining move in the Khasi-Jaintia Hills region.
Meanwhile, the Hynniewtrep Integrated Territorial Organisation (HITO) condemned the National People’s Youth Front (NPYF) for trying to revive the uranium issue in Meghalaya by twisting the OM.
The HITO recalled that on August 24, 2009, the Cabinet headed by the Chief Minister D.D. Lapang approved the lease of land measuring 422 hectares at Nongbah Jynrin in South West Khasi Hills to the Uranium Corporation of India Ltd. (UCIL) for pre-project development activities for uranium mining at Wahkaji, triggering a mass movement marked by protests, arrests, grievous injuries, destruction of property, and disruption of public life.
The HITO said that respecting the will of the people, the Cabinet led by Mukul Sangma on August 1, 2016, revoked both the pre-project development activities for uranium mining at Wahkaji by the UCIL and the lease of the land at Nongbah Jynrin. This revocation was subsequently communicated to the UCIL, closing the matter once and for all.
The HITO asserted that the OM exempted certain atomic and critical mineral mining projects from public hearings under the EIA notification, 2006.
The organisation made it clear that the OM must not reopen the Wahkaji or Nongbah Jynrin chapter, which was decisively closed by the 2016 Cabinet decision.
The NPYF’s memorandum amounts to political opportunism designed to please its Delhi masters, insulting the sacrifices of those who resisted uranium mining and settled the matter nearly a decade ago, the HITO claimed.
It demanded that the NPYF immediately withdraw its misleading memorandum and refrain from using the uranium issue as a political gimmick. “Any attempt to revive uranium mining in Meghalaya will be met with the same united resistance that forced the UCIL out in the first place,” it warned.
