Environment / Meghalaya

SHILLONG, May 12 – A group of Meghalaya MLAs today said that President A P J Abdul Kalam had assured them that he will endeavour to send experts in the field of uranium mining to allay apprehensions about the exploration of the radio-active mineral in the state, reports PTI.

This was conveyed by the President himself when a group of 15 MLAs from Meghalaya, led by Speaker Martin M Danggo, called on him at Rashtrapati Bhawan in Delhi yesterday. “There is no danger in Uranium mining,” Kalam, himself a scientist, reportedly told the legislators who briefed newsmen here today.

The President's...

SHILLONG, May 4 – Three prominent NGOs of the State have asked the Uranium Mining Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) to quit Meghalaya immediately. The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU), Meghalaya People’s Human Rights Commission (MPHRC) and the Hynniewtrep Environmental Site Protection Organisation (HESPO) have rejected the UCIL’s invitation for a debate on the proposed mining of uranium at Domiasiat in the West Khasi Hills district and instead asked the latter to pack up their bags and “get out of our land.”

The NGOs reiterated their decision to continue the movement against uranium mining in...

Shillong, May 2: Unmoved by the groundswell of public opinion against uranium mining at Domiasiat in Meghalaya, chief minister D.D. Lapang said his government would take a decision based on technical reports, not emotions and rumours. He told the media at Raj Bhavan last evening that the government had requested Bhaba Atomic Research Centre to assist it in carrying out “an independent study” at Domiasiat. He said the centre was likely to respond positively.

“We will not go by any rumours or emotions. We will depend on studies and feedback, which will tell us what to do”, the chief minister...

SHILLONG, April 30— The Government of Meghalaya has ordered immediate closure of at least eleven saw mills in the state which were found to be working in gross violation of the Supreme Court order banning timber movement. The apex court, on January 15, 1998 had issued an order banning timber movement based on public interest litigation (PIL) lodged in 1995 seeking the court’s intervention to check depletion of forest cover in the country in general and the north eastern region in particular.

Sources in the Forest Department said that on inquiry that the eleven saw mills, located in parts of...

SHILLONG, April 30 — Mining of the uranium deposits in the West Khasi Hills would ultimately bring in rich dividends for Meghalaya as a whole, Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) authorities have reiterated in the wake of prominent NGOs of the State vehemently opposing the proposed project. Advisor to the UCIL, CF Lyngdoh told reporters that if allowed, mining of uranium in the Domiasiat area of the West Khasi Hills would actually lead to economic progress of the people of the State at large.

Brushing aside apprehensions of hazardous radiation, Lyngdoh said, if required, people living...

Shillong, Jan. 28: Environment activists and several wildlife organisations have demanded a proper investigation into the death of four elephants near Belguri along the Assam-Meghalaya border on January 18.

Four elephants died after colliding with an electric pole near Belguri village under West Garo Hills district of Meghalaya. All four were electrocuted on the spot. Forest department officials later declared the death of the four elephants as an accident.

However, Shillong based-environment activists refuse to buy the forest department argument. ?It is not convincing and we are sure...

Guwahati, Jan. 19: Four elephants were electrocuted when they came in contact with an electric pole at Belugari on the Assam-Meghalaya border in the early hours yesterday. Delayed reports reaching here said the incident happened in Belugari in West Garo Hills district of Meghalaya. The spot is just a km away from Lakhipur forest range of Assam.

As the area is sparsely populated, the information was received here only this evening.

?A herd of Asiatic elephants was moving in the area. Some of them dashed against an electric pole through which a transmission line was passing,? Goalpara divisional...

Shillong, June 11: Meghalaya has been identified as one of the seven states in the country where intensive research on medicinal plants will be taken up by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in association with the Meghalaya government.

The convenor of the state-level planning committee on conservation and sustainable utilisation of medicinal plants, B. Kharbuli, said that a draft proposal on the initiatives has already been prepared. It was presented to chief minister D.D. Lapang during a meeting of the state-level planning committee yesterday.

Kharbuli said the project on...

SHILLONG, June 6? The Meghalaya Peoples? Human Rights Council (MPHRC) and the Hill State Peoples? Dmocratic Party (HSPDP) have strongly opposed any move to carry out uraniam mining at Domiasiat in the West Khasi Hills district on the ground that radiation from the mineral would pose health hazards, besides affecting the environment.

Both HSPDP president H.S.Lyngdoh, MLA and MPHRC secretary general DDG Dympep taking part at a national seminar on Environmental and Sociological Implications of Mineral and Oil Exploration in North-east India? held here Thursday, expressed concern over the...

SHILLONG, June 6 ? ?We want to start the project for mining uranium in Domiasiat, West Khasi Hills district only with people?s cooperation,? Chairman, Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL), Dr R Gupta declared on Thursday. ?Although the exploration for uranium deposits in Domiasiat was completed in 1992, mining has not been taken up till date due to the apprehensions in the minds of the people of the area and in the State of Meghalaya as a whole,? Gupta told reporters on the sidelines of a national seminar on ?Environmental and Sociological Implications of Mining of Minerals and Oil...