Nod to uranium mining in Meghalaya

Shillong: The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has allowed Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL) to mine uranium in Meghalaya. The ministry has given environmental clearance to UCIL to set up a uranium mining and processing plant, official sources say.

Additional Director of the ministry, Satish C Garkoti, in a letter to UCIL, has informed that their Kylleng-Pyndengshohiong uranium mining and processing plant proposal had been accorded environmental clearance by the ministry.

The clearance is for an annual production capacity of 375,000 tonnes of uranium ore by opencast mechanised method and processing of 1,500 tonnes ore, involving total land requirement of 351 hectares at Mawthabahn in West Khasi Hills district.

The lease area allowed for mining is a wasteland, the letter says. The earlier lease area of 292.15 hectares was reduced to 290.45 hectares as the remaining area falling under Domiasat village was not available from the land-owners concerned.

“No ecologically-sensitive area such as national park, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or tiger reserve is reported to be located in the core and buffer zone of the mine and that the area does not form corridor for Schedule-I fauna,” the letter said.

However, the clearance is subject to implementation of certain conditions and environmental safeguards which has been intimated to UCIL, sources added.

“There are 23 households from two villages, Nongbah-Jynrin and Mawthabah, comprising a population of 131 people, living in the core zone. Displacement of population is not envisaged,” the letter stated, sources said.

An exploratory survey by the department of atomic energy had confirmed high quality uranium deposits in the West Khasi Hills region more than one-and-a-half decade ago. But uncertainty prevails over mining with the issue first creating turmoil in the state in 2007.

The uranium mining proposal has been under attack from various tribal organisations, NGOs and the influential Khasi Students Union (KSU) from the very beginning.

To play it safe, the government had constituted an all-party committee early this year, headed by Deputy Chief Minister Mukul Sangma, to look into the viability and other aspects of uranium mining in the state.

The committee is due to submit its report in January 2008, informed Arindam Som, mining secretary of Meghalaya. He added the government would take further action in this regard only after the committee submitted its report.