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 Uranium Mining, denied that UCIL?s activities in the Jadugoda area of Jharkhand had affected residents.
The seminar has been organised by the Northeast India Council for Social Science Research.
On the progress of the Domiasiat project, Gupta said UCIL had applied for a mining lease and completed the requisite feasibility study. ?We are in the process of preparing a detailed project report, which will be submitted to the state government and the Centre. Three organisations ? Engineers India Ltd, Development Project India Ltd and North Eastern Hill University ? are helping us in the task.?
The UCIL chairman described the agitation to prevent uranium mining at Domiasiat as an exercise without meaning. ?Some people do not want India to progress,? he said.
The regional director of Atomic Minerals Division, S.Q. Hoda, said uranium ore found in Domiasiat was of ?very low grade? and would be used essentially for generating power. ?It will be used to generate power and not make nuclear bombs.?
However, both Gupta and Hoda could not explain why their organisations have taken so long to convince the people of the benefits of uranium mining.
A member of the anti-uranium mining lobby, John Kharshiing, warned of ?social problems? if UCIL stuck to its stand. ?Should Domiasiat remain undeveloped because uranium mining has not begun? Residents of the area are not in favour of development by killing themselves and their children,? he said.
Bhudda Weeps in Jadugoda, a documentary on the adverse impact of uranium mining in Jadugoda, was screened in front of a huge gathering at Domiasiat village recently. Hopingstone Lyngdoh, legislator from Nongstoin, is at the forefront of the anti-mining campaign.