IAN UMEDA

Uranium mining project, public

“i don’t know what is uranium, I don’t know if it’s good or bad. I’m only happy that the public hearing went off peacefully,” says Tina Thongenirit from Wakhaji, a village 120 km from Meghalaya’s capital Shillong.

Wakhaji is 15 km from Nongbah Jynrin, the village where the public hearing for a proposed uranium mining project by the Uranium Corporation of India Limited (ucil) was held on June 12 (heavy rains had rendered the place inaccessible to this reporter). The hearing was held amid a general strike and fierce opposition by several civil rights and political groups.

The proposed mining and processing project—Kylleng-Pyndengsohing Uranium Project, Mawthabah—will require 351 hectares from six villages and impact 72 other villages that fall within a 20-km radius of the project area.

Meghalaya has a unique land holding system: the state government doesn’t own any land.

•  Morbidity beneath

All land belongs to either the local clan or an individual within the clan. Hence, all projects requiring land need to be ratified by the entire clan or the private owner. The six villages, where the project is to come up, belong to the Lyngdoh-Sangriang clan. And the clan members—about 500—have agreed to the project and accepted compensation at the rate of Rs 18 per square metre.

But most residents from other villages in the region, including Wakhaji and Domiasiat (within the 20-km radius of the project area), are against the proposal, on health grounds. They are also not convinced about ucil’s ability to mine scientifically.

Previous exploration
In 1983-84, the department of atomic energy discovered two high-quality uranium ore deposits of 9.22 million tonnes in Killung and Rangam areas of the region. After initial explorations in 1987, which included extracting about 630 tonnes of uranium from a 10-sq km open cast mine near Domiasiat, strong local opposition forced ucil to wind up operations in the early 1990s.

But now it’s back with a Rs 814 crore opencast mining proposal. If extracted at the rate of 375,000 tonnes annually, as planned, the mines would have a life of about 24 years.

Key protestors against the proposed project include 80-year-old Spillity Langrin Lyngdoh of Domiasiat who had been instrumental in blocking ucil in the 1990s. She was among the few who had refused to part with their land and she isn’t about to let go of it now either. “Officials say this land is ours but the country is theirs and that means they can do anything they want,” she says. “How can we support that?”

Other anti-mining villagers talk of fish and livestock dying in great numbers near the now-filled-up Domiasiat mine, high incidence of a malaria-like fever that “only the company’s doctor could cure” and congenital deformities among newborns.

They fear mining now will afflict their communities with large-scale unexplained diseases. Pro-project villagers like Dresningwel Lyngdoh of Marshilong, however, brush aside such fears. “People from my village had worked at the Domiasiat mine earlier and are alive,” he says. “They held uranium in their hands, none of them ever suffered. Why should it affect us now?”

Besides, the pro-project villagers are convinced about ucil’s abilities. “We have discussed this several times over and decided that we need development. The project will give us roads, schools and jobs. We will be able to market our produce easily, which is our main concern,” says Pahilanstar Lyngdoh-Sangriang, a Mawthabah farmer. “The company has promised that uranium will be mined scientifically and we expect them to do so,” he says.