Shillong, May 30: The movement against the public hearing on the proposed uranium mining project in West Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya is gathering steam with political parties and NGOs going all out to prevent it from taking place.

The public hearing has been called by the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board on June 12 at Nongbah Jynrin in Mawthabah village of West Khasi Hills district.

The Centre plans to use the uranium from Mawthabah to boost the country’s nuclear capacity up to 20,000 MW by 2020.

The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) which has been opposing the project, has threatened to decide its own “action plan” if chief minister D.D. Lapang does not meet them by tomorrow.

The union has been trying to seek an appointment with Lapang for almost a week now. “We want to meet him but it seems he wants to avoid us,” union president Samuel Jyrwa said. “We will leave our list of demands at his office in case he does not meet us.” But Jyrwa refused to elaborate on the programmes chalked out under the “action plan”.

The uranium mining project in Meghalaya remains mired in controversy since 1991 when the Atomic Mineral Division found rich uranium deposits in Domiasiat and its adjoining areas in West Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya. Opposing the public hearing, the Langrin Youth Welfare Association said “it should not be allowed to take place”.

The association is of the opinion that the views of the people of Langrin would be ignored. Most of the uranium deposits in West Khasi Hills have been spotted in and near the Langrin Assembly constituency.

Those who oppose the proposed project argue that it will lead to “health hazards, diseases from radiation and alienate people in the neighbourhood from their ancestral land”. Meghalaya commissioner and secretary, mining and geology, B. Purkayastha, recently told the media that the Centre had directed the state government to call a “public hearing”.

He said the step had been necessitated to elicit a response from the people.

The Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement and the Hill State Peoples’ Democratic Party have already expressed their opposition to the public hearing.

The two partners of the Congress-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government have demanded that public hearings on the proposed uranium mining should be organised in all district headquarters of the state.

A few NGOs of West Khasi Hills district, like the West Khasi Hills Students’ Union, the South West Khasi Youth Federation and the Western Youth Welfare organisations have, however, extended their support to the government and have welcomed the public hearing.

Lapang, back in power after a brief hiatus, said his government would not back out if it had to mine uranium in the interest of the state and the country.

Referring to President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s recent statement on the utility of uranium as a powerful source of energy, Lapang allayed fears of radiation hazards and said the issue would have to be viewed in its entirety.