Shillong, May 08: The Jaintia National Council (JNC) Central Executive Committee today issued a formal press statement expressing serious concern and deep disappointment that the Government of Meghalaya has maintained complete silence since the JNC submitted its formal written objection to multiple government departments including MSPCB, SEIAA Meghalaya and to MoEF&CC RO Shillong on 30 April 2026, regarding the EIA report which doesn’t match with the State of Meghalaya.
Addressing to media, the JNC draws the attention of the public, the press, and the Government of Meghalaya to three violations that do not require any investigation, because they are admitted and printed in the proponent’s own submitted EIA report:
This EIA belongs to Gujarat, not Meghalaya..On Page 1 of the Draft EIA report itself, the consultant has written in plain English: “The application for the term of reference for the proposed project was considered in the meeting of the Gujarat SEAC, based on the submissions and presentation made by the project proponent in SEAC Gujarat & SEIAA had issued the ToR for the EIA study”
“This project is in East Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya. The JNC asks, with full public record, How did SEIAA Meghalaya accept and process an EIA document explicitly addressed to a Gujarat authority? Since when does the Government of Meghalaya conduct public hearings on behalf of Gujarat? This is not an allegation, it is printed on the document that was submitted to our own regulatory bodies.
The mine’s safety plan is built on a dead law. The EIA classifies the project area under Seismic Zone VI using the Indian Standard , while The Bureau of Indian Standards officially withdrew this standard with immediate effect through a notification published in the Gazette of India on 3 March 2026.
Seismic Zone VI ceased to exist in Indian law on that date. Shree Cement submitted this EIA on 07 April 2026- 35 days after that withdrawal. How can a company be permitted to hold a public hearing where the Disaster Management Plan protecting the lives and lands of our people is written on a law the Government of India itself has already cancelled?
The JHADC is entirely absent from this EIA. The Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council holds constitutional authority over land and natural resources in this district under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India.
Its name does not appear, not in consultation, not in consent, not in revenue sharing, anywhere in the entire of this EIA. The buffer zone of this mine is 98.79% Scheduled Tribe population, as the EIA’s own Table confirms. The JNC asks How has the JHADC remained silent? What does the JHADC’s silence mean for the constitutional rights of every tribal family in Elaka Nongkhlieh?
The Meghalaya government, under public pressure, recently agreed to scrap Lumpongdeng Island from the proposed Taj Resort project at Umiam Lake following protests by local stakeholders and civil society.
The JNC asks the same government, The people of Nongkhlieh Elaka, East Jaintia Hills are they less deserving of that same respect? Why not this one too?
If the government can scrap a component of a Taj Resort project because local stakeholders raised concerns, then the government must equally act on a mining project where the EIA is addressed to a Gujarat authority, relies on a withdrawn safety law, and ignores the constitutional body of the tribal district altogether.
The JNC also places on record with deep sadness what the arrival of Shree Cement has done to the community fabric of East Jaintia Hills, particularly Elaka Nongkhlieh. Farmers who have stood up to protect their land have found no hearing from the government.
During last year’s public hearing for the Shree Cement plant at Daistong in December 2025, original local residents were physically prevented from entering the hearing venue — blocked by individuals acting in the interests of the company, by utilising their goons and mafia.
The JNC have seen this company working systematically to divide our communities approaching local leaders, manipulating village authorities, and attempting to block the work of civil society organisations in the areas where they seek to operate. This is not development. This is infiltration.
On Kiang Nangbah Day, 30 December 2025. our community’s most sacred day of remembrance of our freedom fighter, the JNC publicly committed to standing united for the Jaintia people. That commitment stands firm today.
If no official response to our written objection is received by 15 May 2026, the JNC Central Executive Committee will escalate its protest directly to the Meghalaya Secretariat, Shillong, in the coming days, with the full voice and participation of the East Jaintia people.
JNC are not a group that ends on writting letters, We are the voice of a people whose land, water, forests, and constitutional rights are at stake. The public hearing is scheduled for 22 May 2026, let’s see what Government does?
“We did not write for formality. We wrote with evidence. And that evidence demands a response,” said Sambormi Lyngdoh, President, JNC Central Executive Committee. “We will not sit idle while companies from outside take our rights and our land. The JNC was formed to be the voice of our people, and that is exactly what we will be.”
