local residents, politicians and activist groups are steadfastly resisting the Uranium Corporation of India Limited's (ucil) latest attempt to mine uranium from Meghalaya's Domiasiat village, which has the largest reserves of the radioactive metal in India. The public sector undertaking's officials met Meghalaya chief minister (cm) D D Lapang recently and sought his permission to execute the Rs 450-crore project.

Though ucil has been trying to gain access to the region for the past three decades, it has stepped up its efforts in recent times. The state's uranium deposits have now become crucial to India's nuclear programme because the mines in Jharkhand's Jaduguda town