Even as Meghalaya Chief Minister D D Lapang left for New Delhi on Tuesday to brief Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the progress made to facilitate mining of uranium by the Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) in West Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya, the anti-mining group under the Khasi Students Union (KSU) took out a procession and held a public rally, warning the state and Central governments against forcible extraction of uranium.  

The KSU took out the procession from its office at Jaiaw that culminated at Lewduh, the biggest bazaar in the Northeast, with a public rally. Addressing thousands of people who had gathered at the rally, KSU president Samuel Jyrwa lambasted Lapang for what he dubbed as his “foolish statement” made recently warning the anti-mining group that the Central government would forcibly extract uranium from West Khasi Hills if it met with a resistance.  

Jyrwa warned that if what Lapang claimed was true then the Centre must first declare that the Khasi and Jaintia Hills was not part of India. The pre-project development activities taken up by the UCIL in West Khasi Hills district and approved by the Meghalaya United Alliance (MUA) coalition government was nothing but eyewash, he added.