Shillong, April 26: The Khasi Students? Union (KSU) today renewed its call to push ahead with the movement against the proposal for uranium mining in Domiasiat in the West Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya.

The union said it would not allow the state government to bulldoze the people?s opinion on the issue.

The KSU, together with the Meghalaya People?s Human Rights Council (MPHRC) and several other organisations, held an ?anti-uranium day? rally at Motphran in Shillong today. A resolution was taken there to fight any attempt by the state government or the Centre to influence the local people of Domiasiat to facilitate uranium mining.

The controversy over the uranium mining issue in Meghalaya is over two decades old. All attempts by the Congress-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government and the Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL) to generate a consensus on the issue have failed.

Domiasiat is said to have rich deposits of uranium ore. The atomic minerals division carried out preliminary surveys and testing as early as in the Nineties.

?We are not against any kind of development but this issue is not people-friendly as it involves a lot of health hazards and threats to the environment. It can bring about a major crisis,? said KSU president Samuel Jyrwa said while addressing the rally at Motphran.

The KSU president was critical of the way in which the state government has been trying to influence the local people of the area to allow UCIL to begin uranium mining in Domiasiat and the surrounding areas.

He said it was ?not acceptable? to the people of the state. MPHRC secretary D.D.G. Dympep, too, said the fight against uranium mining would continue, adding that the local people of Domiasiat were on their side.

He was of the opinion that participation by several local representatives from Domiasiat and the neighbouring areas was proof of the fact that the anti-uranium lobby had the support of the local people.

A member of the Landowners? Association of West Khasi Hills, N.D. Syiem, said the local people of Domiasiat were ?not as yet prepared? to accept the UCIL?s proposal to mine uranium from Domiasiat and the surrounding areas. Chief minister D.D. Lapang has come under pressure from some of his key political allies on the issue. Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement (KHNAM) president Paul Lyngdoh has refused to support any move to mine uranium from Domiasiat.

Lyngdoh is sports and youth affairs minister in the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government as well as the spokesman for the coalition. Another coalition partner, the Hill State Peoples Democratic Party, too, has said it would continue to oppose the uranium mining proposal.

A few other ministers and members of the MDA, who have extended their support to the KSU, include Congress MLA and minister of state for border areas Nehlang Lyngdoh, Congress MLA Irene Lyngdoh, Independent MLA Pynshai Manik Syiem and Meghalaya Democratic Party legislator D.P. Iangjuh.