Shillong: Villagers in the uranium-mining belt of Meghalaya’s South West Khasi Hills have opposed a move by the federal Department of Atomic Energy to extract uranium samples from their area.

They have asked the chief executive member of the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council not to give the No Objection Certificate (NOC) to the atomic energy department for extracting the samples from Laitduh village, which is located just miles away from Kshaid Dainthlen, a beautiful waterfall located near Cherrapunjee which is 56 km from Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya.

Addressing media persons on May 12, M. Bynnud, president of the Khasi students Union, South Khasi Hills, said his union had protested as soon as the Laitduh villagers were informed of Department Atomic Energy’s March 16 tender notice to extract uranium samples from this village. The student union is firm on its demand that the council should not give the NOC to the energy department.

Wallambok Lyngdoh, head of the Laitduh, said that during 2002-2003, the atomic energy department had mined small holes to extract uranium samples from this village. However, it was soon observed such extraction has had negative impact on the environment. Streams started running dry, exposing people to cancer, besides spoiling the production of vegetations, he added.

Earlier, the villagers said they want a road, not uranium mining in their area.

A road project worth millions of rupees is yet to see the light of day, they bemoan. Hence they will not allow mining of the mineral from their backyard.

The road project is yet start even after nearly two years since it was sanctioned. The delay apparently lies in the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council as it is yet to hand over the requisite no-objection certificate to the construction company for the road project to start.

The existing Nongstoin-Pambriew-Wahkaji-Mawthabah road, which has been proposed for upgrade to a two-lane, is of 68 km. The estimated cost of the project is around 4.7 billion rupees.

This project falls under Phase-A of the Special Accelerated Road Development Programme in Northeast under the federal ministry of road transport and highways.

Representatives of nearly 50 villages that are connected by the road sought council chief executive member P.N. Syiem’s intervention to grant the no-objection certificate to the road construction company.

“We want this project to see the light of day. But we are not in favor of uranium mining,” Bresswell Paliar, a clan elder from Demnar village of South West Khasi Hills, told reporters after meeting Syiem.

Paliar said some groups have opposed the road project saying it was meant to facilitate mining of uranium from the area. The issue of uranium mining from the Kylleng Pyndensohiong Mawthabah Project had also come up in parliament in recent years. The current estimated amount of uranium resources in Meghalaya is around 17,252 tons while the total uranium reserve in the country is around 1,47,898 tons.

Several organizations, especially pressure groups, have been opposing the idea of uranium mining, as they fear that the mining of the mineral would trigger serious health hazards.

The yearning for a blacktopped road is comprehensible. Paliar said it took them nearly seven hours for them to reach Shillong from their village.

Besides, he said there have been cases where an expecting mother passed away while on her way to the hospital because of the pathetic road condition.

The villagers have to travel more than 50km to reach the nearest hospital at Nongstoin, the district headquarters of West Khasi Hills.

Headingland Sangriang, an elder from Mawthabah village, said earlier, there was a public health center at Wahkaji village, but for the past few years, no doctor has been posted there.

“It was in 1968 that work for digging up a road was taken up in the area. But until now, we are still waiting for a blacktopped road, which would help our people in several ways,” Sangriang said