Shillong, Aug 19: The Hynñiewtrep Integrated Territorial Organisation (HITO) has questioned whether a resolution against uranium mining in the state will be robust enough given the way previous such moves have led to little benefit.
In an open letter addressed to the Chief Minister, Speaker and all MLAs, the pressure group welcomed the proposed resolution against uranium mining in Meghalaya once and for all.
HITO said the protection of Meghalaya’s land, forests, water, environment, health, livelihoods and culture cannot be reduced to party politics and must be treated as a matter of public trust and inter-generational responsibility. While welcoming the uranium resolution, the organisation cautioned against treating it as another decision that is passed with conviction inside the Assembly and then pursued with hesitation outside.
HITO pointed to past Assembly resolutions on coal mining passed in 2015, forest conservation between 2000 and 2017, inclusion of the Khasi language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution and the Inner Line Permit resolution passed in 2019. The organisation asked what measurable progress has followed each of them, what representations were made to the Centre, what responses were received and who is responsible for taking them to their logical conclusion.
HITO appealed to all the MLAs to support the resolution against uranium mining, reopen and actively pursue all major pending resolutions, demand time-bound action from the Centre and make the status transparent to the public. It said the uranium resolution should mark a break with the old habit and establish a new standard of no major resolution without a roadmap, timeline, responsibility and public accountability.
