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| Meghalaya keeps uranium mining plan in abeyance |
| Supratim Dey / Kolkata/ Guwahati Nov 06, 2009, 00:01 IST |
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A seven-member panel to take final decision.
Ending two months of bickering between the state government and the anti-uranium mining groups in Meghalaya, which later took violent turns, the state government has taken the decision to put on hold the “pre-project developmental works”, to be undertaken by Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) in uranium rich areas of West Khasi Hills, and form an expert committee to delve deep into the matter.
The decision was taken after a meeting between chief minister of Meghalaya DD Lapang, the warring Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) and Coordination Committee of Social Organisations (CCSO), a forum of anti-uranium mining groups, in Shillong yesterday.
Government sources informed that the joint committee would be constituted soon and would have seven members, including experts and members from anti-uranium groups like the KSU. The committee would look into the pros and cons of uranium mining and concerns expressed by the anti-mining groups, and would submit its report in three months.
Since September, the state has been on boil as KSU took to the streets with a long-drawn agitation programme to protest the government’s August 24 decision to lease out 422 hectares of land in West Khasi Hills to UCIL to undertake “pre-project development works,” eventually compelling the state government to invite KSU for talks.
According to KSU, the “pre-project developmental works” were in reality “structural activities” by UCIL to start uranium mining in connivance with the state government and the Centre.
The latest move of the state government appears to have gone down well with the KSU, as its president, Samuel Jyrwa told Business Standard that they were “happy” that the “pre-project development works” had been put on hold and that an expert committee would be constituted.
Jyrwa said that KSU had put on hold its agitation programmes till the expert committee, of which it would be a part, submitted its report.
When asked what would be KSU’s stand in case the report of the expert committee favoured uranium mining, Jyrwa said, “We will be in the expert committee and we will argue our differences out in due course.”
KSU is opposed to uranium mining proposal on the ground that it would degrade environment and precipitate health hazards in the mining and adjoining areas.
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