SHILLONG: Residents of nine villages have vowed to oppose the Meghalaya Electric Corporation limited (MeCL) plan to construct a (3 by 80 Megawatt) hydroelectricity power dam along the Umngot river. The outright opposition of the villagers in East Khasi Hills district is due to fear that they will lose all the rich agricultural lands located by the river.

The government held a public hearing to know the minds of the people on the hydroelectricity project on May this year. The concerned authorities at the State and Central levels have not made any decision, but the farmers likely to be affected by the power plant said that they will give a single partition of their land.