SHILLONG: State Pollution Control Board had conducted an extensive study on the impact of mining and the report was submitted in 1997. An expert committee had suggested at that time that a State Mining Policy was imperative. State Government never shared the report and did nothing with it.

CSE releases report on mining
By Our Reporter

Mining is an unregulated activity in Meghalaya. Forests are felled and coal and limestone are excavated without any concern for the environment. The existence of a State Pollution Control Board has not added to the quality of the environment or reduced pollution in any way.

SHILLONG: Meghalaya Tourism Development Forum (MTDF), a critical mass of socially and environmentally conscious intelligentsia engaged in promoting responsible tourism, has called for people's participation to this year's autumn festival beginning with the carnival scheduled for November 1 next. MTDF's drum beating festival followed by the guitar ensemble has won it worldwide accolades.

SHILLONG: An eight-member delegation of the MPA Government, led by Deputy Chief Minister Timothy D Shira, will visit High Wall Mining Technology Mission, USA from October 19 to 26 to get the hang of the technology used by the Mission for coal mining.

Shillong: Meghalaya loses approximately 10 million metric tones of top soil annually through practice of shifting cultivation, deforestation and other methods of soil degradation activities, said the Director of Soil and Water Conservation, KC Momin at the annual general meeting of Meghalaya Soil and Water Conservation held at the Conservation Training Institute at Byrnihat in Ri-Bhoi district on

By Our Reporter

SHILLONG: Expressing grave concern over environmental degradation, various NGOs from South Garo Hills have come together under the banner of Chitmang Hills Anti-Mining Forum (CHAMF) to intensify the campaign against unscientific mining in the district and push for early announcement and implementation of the State Mining Policy.

Wanton coal mining in Meghalaya is not only harming the environment but also affecting food grain production of the State by degrading the cultivable land and polluting the irrigable water supply.

"In particular, paddy cultivation has been adversely affected in the coal mining areas," a State Government report said.

Uranium mining

SHILLONG: Principal Advisor of Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) V P Raja would soon place a report on the progress of the open-cast uranium mining in Meghalaya in the Prime Minister's Office.

"I will submit a detailed report to the PMO on the progress of the project, besides opinion of the NGOs," Mr Raja told UNI here after winding his three-day visit to the State.

Shillong: The KSU, which has been spearheading the movement against the proposed uranium mining, reiterated its total opposition to the mining project and the proposal to set up a nuclear plant in the State.