Environment / Meghalaya

SHILLONG, Aug 23 ? Social activists in the North East are up in arms against the construction of mega dams in the region claiming it would bring ?untold suffering and land alienation among the indigenous poeple,? reports PTI. The Citizens Concern for Dams and Development (CCDD), a forum of people movements, NGOs, professional associations and leading citizens here said that the respective governments proposed to construct 168 large hydro-electric projects in the region and 28 of them were at the implementation stage and some others were also being developed.

Talking to media after its three...

SHILLONG, June 18: Meghalaya Government today said it had sanctioned establishment of a biofertiliser laboratory to promote organic farming in the State. Agriculture Minister K Susngi said in reply to a question of NCP’s JM Marak that the laboratory was developing a type of organic biofertiliser called ‘Azolla’ to give more nitrogen to the plants. “It is under trial stage,” he said.

The minister said the Azolla was being developed to produce more organic vegetables and to market those. In a separate question, the minister said the government had already earmarked in the budget a provision for...

GUWAHATI, June 24 – The State Government has teamed up with the Meghalaya Government to solve the problems of erosion and flash flood caused by the Basistha-Bahini river in the city. As a result, an inter-State committee with the officials of the Forest, Soil Conservation and Public Works Departments of the two States has been formed and the State Soil Conservation Department has been working on two projects involving the river in the city areas.

Disclosing these, J Malakar, Divisional Officer of the South Bank Soil Conservation Division, Guwahati told media men today that 80 per cent of the...

SHILLONG, June 11 – With a view to keeping the environment clean and avoiding confusion among manufacturers, sellers and users of plastic bags in the State, the Meghalaya Government has introduced an amendment to a relevant Bill banning all plastic bags below 40 micron in thickness.

‘Meghalaya Prohibition of Manufacturer, Sale, Use and Throwing of Low Density Plastic Bags Act 2001’ had attempted to ban such an act of low density plastic bags of below 20 micron which was desecrating the environment and posing serious health hazards. Urban Affairs Minister Friday Lyngdoh, who introduced an...

Shillong, June 10: Following in the footsteps of its Assam counterpart, the Meghalaya government has decided to rope in private operators to bring the Meghalaya Transport Corporation (MTC) back on track. Dubbing the corporation “a white elephant,” Meghalaya chief minister D.D. Lapang told reporters that the cabinet approved the proposal to bring willing private transport operators under the banner of the MTC.

“Nearly 50 per cent of the current staff of the MTC opted for voluntary retirement with the government more than willing to offer the golden handshake,” Lapang said.

The Meghalaya...

SHILLONG, June 9 – Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL) has claimed that land owners in Meghalaya’s Domiasiat area have given their consent for mining of the radioactive mineral, reports PTI.

“We have interacted with the land owners and they have given their consent in principle,” UCIL chairman and managing director R Gupta told reporters here on Sunday. The UCIL claim came in the backdrop of a visit by a high-level team comprising Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar, Gupta and others to Domiasiat, about 150 km from here on Friday. Several social organisations in Shillong...

SHILLONG, June 5 – Amidst protests from certain social bodies against uranium mining in Meghalaya, the Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission Anil Kakodkar today allayed apprehensions about ill-effects of radiation. Speaking at a national symposium on environment to mark the World Environment Day here, Kakodkar said radiation is part of nature occurring since the ‘big bang’ resulting in the evolution of matter, element and life, and it existed in nature irrespective of ‘where you are’ in the solar system. Even energy from the sun, which was the source of human life on earth, was also a process...

SHILLONG, June 5 – President APJ Abdul Kalam has deputed the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) of India, Dr Anil Kakodkar to Meghalaya to dispel apprehensions regarding possible radiation hazards arising out of the proposed uranium mining project at Domiasiat in the West Khasi Hills district of the State. Dr Kalam had assured a group of MLAs from Meghalaya, who called on him last month at New Delhi of soon deputing a team of experts to explain the ground realities of uranium mining, in the wake of stiff opposition to the proposed mining by certain NGOs on the ground that this...

TURA, May 31 – The mini industrial township of Mendipather in East Garo Hills, that borders Goalpara district of Assam, has, since some years ago, been a booming trading centre with timber and coal being its main export. It still is though to a lesser extend thanks to the Supreme Court ban on felling of trees. However, the situation seems to be returning to its earlier days if one takes into account the rise in number of illegal saw mills in and around Mendipather.

As per the claims of an organisation, the Federation of Khasi Jaintia and Garo People (FKJGP), Mendipather Circle, there are...

NEW DELHI, May 21 – Faced with increasing demand by social groups to stop uranium mining in Meghalaya, the State government has started official-level talks with Bhabha Atomic Research Centre seeking “clarifications” on fears that people living near the mines were exposed to radiation.

“Our officials have met BARC people seeking clarifications,” Chief Minister DD Lapang told PTI here. However, he did not divulge the outcome of the meetings, saying this would be done only after State ministers met the BARC officials.

Several social groups have demanded stopping of uranium mining in Domiasiat...