Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma. Photo credit: Meghalaya CMO
Under pressure from local groups, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma said his government would move a resolution in the 60-member Assembly to block uranium mining in the State.
The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) and other groups launched an anti-uranium mining movement after Jitendra Singh, the Minister of State for Atomic Energy, recently said the Centre was examining the status of uranium mining in Meghalaya. He also said the Centre would first need to frame rules under the proposed Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India Act.
The KSU and other pressure groups interpreted Mr. Singh’s view as “a clear sign” that the Centre was planning to revive the “hazardous” uranium exploration and mining project in the State’s South West Khasi Hills district. The uranium-rich areas, including Domiasiat, border Bangladesh.
In a message on Thursday (July 16, 2026), the Chief Minister clarified that Mr. Singh’s comments had been misinterpreted and that the Centre took “no decision” on uranium mining in Meghalaya. He also indicated that his National People’s Party (NPP)-led government would not surrender the land, water, and future to a radioactive threat.
“The NPP leaders met on Wednesday to urge the government to place a resolution against uranium mining. Based on the suggestions and decisions of the party leaders, we will move forward with a resolution in the Assembly to oppose uranium mining in Meghalaya,” he said.
Mr. Sangma said that the resolution would formally convey the State’s commitment to protecting its environment, forests and communities from the potential adverse impacts of uranium extraction.
“There are too many risks involved, and we are very firm that we will oppose uranium mining in our State,” he asserted.
Earlier, KSU president Rueben Anderson Najiar asked the State government to shut down the office of the Atomic Minerals Directorate (AMD) in Shillong’s Nongmensong area. He said some people have started purchasing land in Domiasiat and other uranium-rich areas from villagers, possibly to sell at a premium if the uranium project is executed.
“Some influential individuals, including those with links to the government, visited these places and persuaded landowners to sell their land,” he said.
Anti-uranium mining struggle
The KSU and other organisations have been organising Anti-Uranium Day on October 28 to mark the death of Domiasiat matriarch Spility Lyngdoh Langrin. She was 95 when she died in 2020.
She became a household name when she rejected a lucrative government offer to buy her land after the AMD undertook exploratory drilling for uranium deposits in 1993. The protests she spearheaded forced AMD to suspend operations a couple of years later. She led the second phase of the agitation in 2009 after the Meghalaya government granted permission to the Uranium Corporation of India Limited to undertake exploratory activities on 422 hectares in the district.
Relentless protests by locals, educated about the effects of uranium mining in Jharkhand’s Jaduguda, made the government revoke the permission in August 2016.
Meghalaya has one of the country’s largest reserves of high-grade uranium in the Domiasiat, Wahkaji, Mawthabah, and their adjoining areas of South West Khasi Hills district. The estimated 9.22 million tonnes of uranium deposits in the State is 16% of the country’s total reserves and third-highest after Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh.
Published – July 17, 2026 01:03 pm IST
