“It appears that the project has been shelved since the government has not taken any decision regarding mining of uranium,” deputy chief minister in charge of mining , Bindo Lanong, told reporters this evening.
When Lapang was in power, there was a flurry of activities aimed at starting uranium mining in the West Khasi Hills at the earliest.
With change of government, however, Sangma decided to go slow on the project, fearing political repercussions if the government started the project.
Several NGOs, including the Khasi Students’ Union, continue to protest against uranium mining.
Lanong said the state government had also not received any intimation from the Centre regarding the project.
“We can say that at the moment, the project is in cold storage as the state government has not taken any decision regarding the uranium project,” Lanong said.
When Lapang was chief minister, a joint committee comprising government officials, health experts and members from various NGOs was constituted to examine the merits and demerits of uranium mining. However, the committee was denotified soon after Sangma assumed power.
Sangma and his senior ministers had a meeting with officials from the department of atomic energy and Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) on November 9 last year in Shillong and had asked the officials to first convince those opposed to uranium mining.