| - CM to meet Singh on uranium issue | ||
Shillong, Oct 5 : Under mounting pressure from the anti-mining groups, the Congress-led Meghalaya United Alliance government today tried to buy time by stressing that the pre-development projects to be initiated by the Uranium Corporation of India Ltd were its priority and the issue of actual uranium mining would be taken up later. In an apparent softening of its earlier stand that triggered widespread protests in Meghalaya and even in Delhi yesterday, chief minister D.D. Lapang told reporters that for the time being the government would think only about the pre-development projects. “We will take up the issue of actual uranium mining at a later stage. We will now concentrate on the pre-development projects to be initiated by the UCIL,” he said. Lapang said he would leave for Delhi on Tuesday to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and apprise him of the views of his ministerial colleagues and pressure groups on the apprehensions about uranium mining in the state. “We will do the best possible and suggestions and apprehensions regarding the project will be made known to the Prime Minister,” he said. “We will discuss the need to extend the development projects in the entire West Khasi Hills district with the UCIL officials next week,” Lapang said. According to Lapang, the people of the state and the NGOs will not be ready to accept development only in the small uranium mining sites. “There should be better road connectivity and other infrastructure development in the entire West Khasi Hills and not in the uranium mining sites alone. This will be communicated to the UCIL officials,” Lapang said. The KSU, in a recent meeting with deputy chief minister Bindo Lanong, who holds the mining portfolio, said if the UCIL wanted to take up development projects without mining, work should not be restricted to the uranium mining sites alone. Besides pressure from the Khasi Students’ Union that staged a protest rally in Delhi yesterday along with other NGOs, the government’s change of stand is mainly attributed to the Khasi Jaintia Presbyterian Assembly. The church body has asked the government not to go ahead with uranium mining. Its executive committee meeting recently expressed concern over health hazards and dislocation of residents from uranium mining sites if mining was carried out. The church said the uranium mining project could inject a feeling of insecurity and alienation among the people. |
Lapang softens stand on mining
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Sinlung
