SHILLONG, AUG 1: The Congress led state government today decided to cancel the August 24, 2009 – cabinet decision on agreement to lease a land measuring 422 hectares in South West Khasi Hills to the UCIL for pre-mining activities.
Terming the decision a historic after a cabinet meeting on Monday, chief minister Mukul Sangma said, “The decision to revoke the cabinet decision taken on August 24, 2009 is a strong message that any initiatives relating to pre-mining activities which is precursor to uranium mining should not be done until and unless the people of the state are taken on board.”
He also informed that direction to all concerned departments have been given to communicate today’s decision to the Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) and embark upon all measures for taking the people of the state into account.
It may be mentioned that the cabinet decision on August 24, 2009 was taken during the tenure of DD Lapang as the chief minister heading the Congress led MUA-I state government.
According to him, the decision was taken following the recent tender for expression of interest (EOI) floated by the UCIL without the consent of the state government despite the whole exercise (related to 2009 cabinet decision) was kept in abeyance.
“If you look at the UCIL’s EOI, it does not confine only to pre-mining activities but it goes beyond that and it has indicated measures for mining activities,” Sangma said.
Maintaining that the state government has been consistent in its approach in respect to the issue of uranium mining, he said, “The approach has always been that the people have to be taken into consideration.”
The chief minister also referred to the recently held meeting with the different NGOs in which the government had maintained that it will be important to take the people on board and only then can the state proceed with the issue.
Moreover, Sangma also said following the 2009 cabinet decision, there was a joint committee constituted by the government to engage with all concern adding unfortunately the whole exercise did not yield any outcome.
“Subsequently, the government has also indicated to the UCIL to take all measures to get people’s confidence and also a number of exercise to create awareness to dispel the concern about health and environment hazards,” he said.
When asked on the delay to revoke the decision, he lambasted the UCIL for its failure to ensure people are taken on board but decided to go ahead by floating the EOI, which is beyond pre mining activities.
Meanwhile, the chief minister has also maintained that procedure will follow vis-à-vis the ownership in as far as the 422 hectares of land is concerned.-By Our Reporter
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