Environment / Meghalaya

Shillong, June 5: The Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL) is going ahead with its plan to set up a uranium-processing unit at Domiasiat in Meghalaya, ignoring protests by various organisations.

Its chairman-cum-managing director Raminder Gupta today allayed fears about the hazards of radiation, saying there was no truth in reports that children born to people living near the site would suffer from congenital defects, including skeletal deformities. ?These are rumours designed to prevent development of Domiasiat,? he said.

Gupta, who is here for a two-day seminar on Environmental Impact of...

SHILLONG, June 3? The Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL) will adopt the open-cast method of mining uranium at Domiasiat in the West Khasi Hills to ensure safety to the people and the environment. Atomic Minerals Directorate (AMD) officials told media-persons that with the commencement of uranium mining, the people living in the vicinity would also be benefited as the UCIL would invest a large sum of money for development of the area.

It may be mentioned that there has ben strong public opposition to the proposed uranium mining in Domiasiat as it is widely felt that mining would destroy...

SHILLONG, May 22 ?After over a decade, investigation and drilling of uranium deposits by the Uranium Corporation of India (UCI) have resumed in Meghalaya, reports PTI. The UCI has conducted geo-physical survey in Domiasiat area of West Khasi hills and was now negotiating with the individuals. The State government was not involved in the process, Chief Secretary J Tayeng told reporters here Saturday.

Process of excavation of the precious mineral had begun in Meghalaya in 1992 as Rs 450 crore were earmarked for the pilot project but it was reportedly abandoned due to protests from local people...

Shillong, May 17: The decks have been cleared for mining uranium from Domiasiat in the West Khasi Hills, with individual landowners agreeing to allow the Uranium Corporation of India (UCI) to carry out exploratory work for testing and investigating the quality of the mineral available in that area.

Meghalaya chief secretary J. Tayeng told newsmen here today that the Atomic Energy Commission of India has earmarked Rs 450 crore for setting up a uranium-aided ?power generation plant? in Domiasiat.

He said the project would be ?economically viable? for generating hydroelectric power. Tayeng was...

TURA, April 1 — Unscientific mining continues in the rich coal belt area of Nangalbibra in South Garo Hills despite Tuesday’s tragic event in which seven coal miners died inside a rat hole while digging for coal. These rat holes have sprung up in virtually every hill in Nangalbibra. Each hole is spacious enough to squeeze in one person at a time only. The miners were digging deep inside a mountain at Rongsa Awe, one of the richest coal belt areas of Garo Hills, when they accidentally dug into the walls of a abandoned mine shaft that was filled with water. Heavy water rushed into their hole and...

Shillong, March 31: The Scotland of the East could soon become the hottest herbal-cure destination in the country after Kerala. Thirty Meghalaya-based practitioners of traditional medicine will exhibit their skills here tomorrow and validate their claims about the medicinal value of certain plants that are abundantly available in the state.

“Practitioners of traditional medicine have accepted the challenge to prove that the best cure to many diseases is natural therapy. We will probably see some of the evidence tomorrow,” Besterwell Kharbuli, a scientist at the North Eastern Biodiversity...

Shillong, March 24: Meghalaya forest minister Sing Mulieh today defended the recent sacrifice of two leopards as part of a tribal ritual, saying he would personally not allow the law to get in the way of religion.

Members of a tribe that practises the Niam Tynrai religion sacrificed the animals, both of the Felis Bengalinsis species, during the Rong Khli or Shad Khla festival at Nongtalang in the Jaintia Hills.

Leopards are categorised as “rare and endangered” under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972.

The forest minister, who is from the Jaintia Hills, said he would not allow...

Shillong, March 21: The sacrifice of a leopard in Nongtaleng village of Jaintia Hills district today has brought a minister in the D.D. Lapang government as well as an entire community under a cloud. The forest department is probing the incident.

Residents of Nongtalang, 17 km from Dawki and 3 km from the Bangladesh border, sacrificed the leopard (Felis Bengalensis), a rare and endangered species according to Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, to celebrate Rong Khli or Shad Khla (festival of tiger). The festival, which was held after 10 years, is celebrated by believers of Niam Tynrai...

Shillong, Dec. 20: The agitation against uranium exploration and mining in the West Khasi Hills as well as some parts of the East Khasi Hills has been revived.

Several non-governmental and voluntary organisations have demanded that “all exploration work should stop once and for all”.

The Heritage and Environment Status Preservation Organisation (Hespo) and the Meghalaya People’s Human Rights Council (MPHRC) today released a booklet entitled Dangers of Uranium at the Shillong Press Club.

Hespo convenor P.B.M. Basiawmoit told newsmen that the booklet would be distributed all over the Khasi...

Shillong, Jan. 19: In poll parlance, a sensitive booth usually connotes a place where the authorities apprehend violence. In a departure of sorts, polling stations within the striking distance of rampaging elephants in the hills of Ri Bhoi and other Meghalaya districts have also been declared ?sensitive?.

The Election Commission has sought help from the forest department to ensure that voting is not disrupted by the elephants, who are posing an ?equally serious threat?.

The state election commission today said the forest department has been asked to provide logistic support to polling...