HNLC emissary asks CMO to make available report on Uranium mining

Shillong, June 30 (UNI) A senior church leader and emissary of the proscribed Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) militant outfit Rev PBM Basaiawmoit today urged the Chief Minister's Office in Meghalaya to hand over a copy of the World Uranium Hearing report to the newly constituted all-party committee ((APC) on Uranium mining.

In a letter to Chief Minister D D Lapang, Rev Basaiawmoit urged the minister to make available the September 1992 World Uranium Hearing at Austria to the committee.

''The APC can go through the report before arriving at any decision and make recommendations as far as the issue of uranium mining was concerned,'' he said.

If the state government had taken serious steps in 1992, the present impasse and stone walling strategy would not have up at all, 16 years after permission was granted by both parties for exploratory mining to the Atomic Minerals Division of the Department of Atomic Energy, emissary added.

He asserted that the indigenous people around the world, owing to their vulnerability, short sightedness and limited vision of their leaders, always bear the brunt in struggles related to geo-politics.

The Chief Minister recently briefed Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on the sentiments of the people in the state about the proposed Uranium mining in the state.

He also informed the Prime Minister about constitution an all-party committee by the state government to study the pros and cons of Uranium mining in the state.

The Committee headed by Deputy Chief Minister Dr Mukul M Sangma,, would draw two members each from different political parties in the state.

UNI