Shillong: The Meghalaya government on August 1 canceled the lease given to a uranium miner to conduct pre-mining activities in the northeastern Indian state.

The previous D.D. Lapang regime had taken the decision to grant Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) the lease to mine 422 hectares of land in South West Khasi Hill district.

The Mukul Sangma government annulled the decision

“We (the cabinet) have revoked the earlier cabinet decision taken on August 24, 2009 relating to pre-mining activities which is a precursor to uranium mining,” Sangma told journalists after chairing the cabinet meeting.

The decision to annul the leasing of land to the UCIL was adopted after the government-owned mining company had recently floated the expression of interest (EOI) for a mine and processing plant of uranium ore in South West Khasi Hills without the consent of the state government.

“This decision is a strong message that any initiatives relating to pre-mining activities which is precursor to uranium mining cannot be allowed until and unless the people of the state are taken on board,” Sangma said.

He said the cabinet has also directed the departments concerned to communicate the cabinet’s decision to the UCIL, reports newkerala.com.

Meghalaya is the third uranium-rich state in the country after Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh. The state accounts for 16 percent of India’s uranium reserves, with deposits estimated to be around 9,500 tons and 4,000 tons respectively at Domiasiat and Wakhaji, both in South West Khasi hills district.

However, the proposed open-cast uranium mining in Meghalaya’s West Khasi Hills district has been hanging fire since 1992 after several groups expressed fears of radiation impact on human health and environmental degradation.

The UCIL had pegged Kylleng Pyndengsohiong Mawthabah project in Meghalaya for Rs.1,100 crore. The ores are spread over a mountainous terrain in deposits varying from eight to 47 meters from the surface in and around Domiasiat, 135 km west from here.

The UCIL plans to produce 375,000 tons of uranium ore a year and process 1,500 tons of the mineral a day.