Shillong, Sep 22: Even as much of the state is in a ferment because of a directive from the central government that allegedly makes it easier to bypass norms in order to carry out uranium mining, the Hynñiewtrep Integrated Territorial Organisation (HITO) today had someone else in its sights, namely the National People’s Youth Front (NPYF), the youth wing of the National People’s Party (NPP).
It was the NPYF that a few days ago raised the matter of the office memorandum of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) for exempting uranium and other atomic mineral mining projects from mandatory public consultations and hearings.
However, in a release today, HITO said that this is inaccurate.
The office memo “merely exempts certain atomic and critical and strategic mineral mining projects from the requirement of public hearings under the EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) Notification 2006,” the pressure group said. “Crucially, Clause 6 of the OM itself makes it clear that all other safeguards under the EIA framework remain in place. These include compulsory assessment of impacts on population and settlements, the provision of social infrastructure such as drinking water, sanitation and medical facilities, measures for skill development and employment of local communities, creation of grievance redressal mechanisms and ensuring adequate financial and other resources to implement environmental and social management plans.”
In short, the OM does not give a blank cheque for uranium mining and to suggest otherwise is “either gross ignorance or deliberate distortion,” HITO added, while also calling the NPYF irresponsible in raking up this sensitive matter.
The memo does not, HITO said, reopen the long abandoned attempts to mine uranium in Meghalaya, which faced adamant opposition from members of the public. “…Uranium mining continues to fall under the jurisdiction of the Union Ministry of Mines and the Department of Atomic Energy and no project can move forward in Meghalaya without the unequivocal consent of landowners and traditional authorities, the Rangbah Shnong and the Sordar,” it added.
