Shillong, Aug. 11: The Meghalaya government today said it had no information about the Centre’s statement that uranium production from the Kylleng Pyndensohiong Mawthabah project would commence in the Twelfth Plan period.

“We have no information about the statement and nothing officially has come to us,” Bindo M. Lanong, the deputy chief minister in-charge of mining and geology, told reporters here, when asked about Union minister of state for science and technology Prithviraj Chavan’s recent statement in the Rajya Sabha.

Chavan had said a number of uranium projects, Gogi in Karnataka, KPM in Meghalaya and Lambapur in Andhra Pradesh, were being taken up in the Eleventh Plan period and production was expected to commence in the Twelfth Plan period.

Asked whether there was any pressure from the Centre on the uranium mining issue, Lanong replied in the negative. He also said that unlike last year, the contentious issue of uranium mining in the state had become “cold” but not off yet. “We have taken a slower pace unlike the preceding year, but the issue is not off,” he said.

Last year, the D.D. Lapang government had decided to lease out 422 square hectares in the uranium mining belt of West Khasi Hills to the UCIL for 30 years to implement the Rs 209-crore development package. However, the project was put on hold following stiff resistance from anti-uranium mining groups.

After taking over from Lapang as the chief minister, Mukul Sangma had said in May that his government would adopt a “new approach” and engage all sections of society to find out whether there was a solution to the people’s concern over issues pertaining to health and environment vis-à-vis uranium mining.