Meghalaya says no to uranium mining

Uranium mining in Meghalaya has expectedly hit the Meghalaya Progressive Alliance (MPA) wall.

Barely a week after taking charge, Meghalaya chief minister Donkupar Roy has made it clear his government would not allow mining of the potentially radioactive mineral unless the “local people change their minds”.

Uranium mining has been a touchy issue in Meghalaya ever since Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) marked the Domiasiat area in West Khasi Hills district to have rich deposits of the mineral. However, efforts to begin the project have come a cropper since 1995 owing to opposition from local villagers and various pressure groups.

Following clearance from the Union ministry of environment and forests, UCIL had in June last year conducted a public hearing at Nongbah Jynrin in the uranium belt towards setting up the Rs 1,000 crore project. That the belt with 16 per cent of India’s uranium reserves was key to the country’s nuclear programme underlined the UCIL’s urgency.
UCIL had apparently banked on a “change in mindset” after the MPA took over from the Congress-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance.

Roy, however, dashed any trace of hope on Sunday, hours after India successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable Agni-I missile off the Orissa coast.

“Ours is a people’s government, and we will go by the people’s verdict,” Roy told reporters in State capital Shillong, indicating a rethink would depend entirely on what the local stakeholders decide.

He added all the constituents in the NCP-led MPA concurred on opposing the uranium project. Roy is the chief of the regional United Democratic Party, which opposed uranium mining even as an ally of the Congress in the previous government.

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Pastor’s death rocks Mizoram House

Aizawl, Mar 25 : The mysterious death of Rev Chanchinmawia, former moderator of the Mizoram Presbyterian Synod and chairman of the Mizoram People’s Forum (MPF) in October last year rocked Mizoram Assembly here today where Opposition parties demanded a CBI probe.

Replying to a question from Andrew Lalherliana of Zoram Nationalist Party, Home Minister Tawnluia said the case was investigated by a special investigation team of the State police which submitted its final report to the Additional District Magistrate (Judicial) on December 6 and the court had already accepted the final report.

The pastor was found dead in his official residence at Khatla here on the morning of October 1, 2007. Controversy was fueled by the fact that he was the chairman of the MPF, formed by conglomerate of churches and major NGOs to reform political and electoral process in the State.

Tawnluia also said the police investigation did not reveal any possibility of homicide and all the evidences pointed towards a suicidal death.

Opposition members, however, alleged that insurgents might be involved with his death and demanded that the case be re-opened and the CBI be asked to take up the probe.

PTI

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Northeast could be largest rubber producing region

Agartala, Mar 25 : India’s northeast has the potential to transform itself into the world’s largest natural rubber producing region and the country’s second rubber-based industrial park is being set up in Tripura to boost the industry.

‘Future expansion and growth of natural rubber in India lies in the northeast, which is agro-climatically most suitable for rubber cultivation,’ Sajen Peter, chairman of the Rubber Board of India, told IANS.

An estimated 60,000 hectares of land is now under rubber cultivation and in the next five years the area under the ‘liquid gold’ cultivation would be doubled.

Peter said India, Thailand and Vietnam are among the largest natural rubber producing countries, and India tops the list in terms of productivity.

The Board is now celebrating the golden jubilee of rubber cultivation in India. Seminars, workshops and numerous other programmes are being held across the country.

Small growers in the past 50 years have contributed to an overall production of 852,895 tonnes.

‘The annual productivity has increased from only 333 kg to 1,879 kg per hectare, which is the highest productivity in the world,’ the Rubber Board chief said while addressing a seminar here.

The union cabinet earlier approved a Rs.4.13 billion scheme for re-plantation and fresh cultivation of rubber in the non-traditional areas, mainly in the northeastern states.

An assessment made by the Rubber Board indicates that rubber could be cultivated in about 450,000 hectares in the seven northeastern states, mostly in Tripura, Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh.

Tripura is the second largest rubber producer in the country after Kerala with 40,000 hectares of land so far brought under rubber cultivation.

According to the Rubber Board and the National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, an area of 100,000 hectares is suitable for rubber plantations in Tripura.

To boost the industry, India’s second rubber-based industrial park is being set up in Tripura to bring about a natural revolution in the elastic polymer industry.

The rubber park, a joint venture between the Tripura Industrial Development Corporation (TIDC) and the Rubber Board, is the second of its kind in the country after the rubber park at Irapuram in Kerala, where over 520,000 hectares are now under cultivation.

Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (ILFS) is the project management agency of the park, where at least 20 rubber-based industrial projects would be set up within the next three years.

‘The rubber park is to be built in an area of 50 acres of land in the Bodhjunjnagar industrial growth centre in western Tripura and over Rs.500 million are expected to be invested in the park over a period of three years,’ said Pabitra Kar, chairman of the TIDC.

Kar, a rubber garden owner, demanded further strengthening of the official machinery of the Rubber Board in the northeast region.

IANS

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Assam ready for unconditional talks with militants

Guwahati, Mar 25 : The Government of Assam Tuesday reiterated that it is ready to talk to the militant outfits, including the banned ULFA, if they come forward for negotiation without any pre-condition and under the ambit of the Constitution of the country.

Replying to the cut motion brought against the Home Department in the State Legislative Assembly this morning, the Chief Minister Mr. Tarun Gogoi said his Government is giving top priority to solve the menace of militancy. Mr. Gogoi said three new India Reserve Police Battalions have been raised and one more is coming up in the State very shortly. These Battalions have been trained specially on jungle warfare to counter militancy.
The Chief Minister said that despite insurgency the GDP growth rate of the State has been increased to 7 point 6 against the average national target of nine per cent.

PTI

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