Shillong, July 11: Dr Donkupar Roy, the president of the UDP who was also leader of opposition in the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly said that” the state government had leased the land at Kylleng Pynden Umiong located in Mawthabah to the Uranium Corporation India Limited (UCIL) for a period of 30 years in the year 2010”.
The opposition leader said that in this connection he observed that the state government should not have rush in leasing out the land to UCIL without proper understanding or clarification from the company if there are going to be any complication or health hazards that might affect the people of the region once uranium is mine.
He also said that the central government can’t do anything without getting a green signal from the state goverment, the UCIL cannot mine uranium if the state government has not given permission.
On the EoI floated by UCIL which stated that it is planning to set up open-pit mine and processing plant of uranium ore in South West Khasi Hills district, the UDP Chief said, “Since the government had leased the land to the company they had floated the tender notice. But the UDP stand is very clear UCIL cannot mine uranium unless they can assured that health hazard can be prevented.
Dr Roy said that they are not opposing just for the sake of opposing but they first want to know what measures the UCIL will undertake to check that there will be no effect on the health of residents in those areas if uranium is mined. According to him, the state governed should come up with a clear picture on uranium mining in the state.
