Now Reading: Jaintia council gives Meghalaya 10-day deadline on cement project rights
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Jaintia council gives Meghalaya 10-day deadline on cement project rights
Jaintia council gives Meghalaya 10-day deadline on cement project rights
The Jaintia National Council (JNC) has given the Meghalaya government ten days to protect landowners’ and farmers’ rights before Shree Cement Limited’s proposed Rs 1,800-crore integrated cement plant and limestone mining project…
The Story in Brief
The Jaintia National Council (JNC) has given the Meghalaya government ten days to protect landowners’ and farmers’ rights before Shree Cement Limited’s proposed Rs 1,800-crore integrated cement plant and limestone mining project in Lum Syrman, East Jaintia Hills district. On Thursday, JNC general secretary Wanshwa Suting submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma, calling for a time-bound verification of revenue, customary, and cultivation records.
The project, covering 217.394 hectares, has faced protests since May, when public hearings were called off. The JNC said land rights cannot be treated as a mere environmental clearance issue. It alleged the state government was favouring cement companies by blocking residents from attending a July 31 public hearing. The JNC insisted its opposition is not to development but to lack of transparency and justice for local stakeholders.
The Indian Opinion
The JNC is right to demand that farmers’ land rights be settled before a Rs 1,800-crore project flattens their fields. But the same transparency it asks of the government should apply to its own customary claims, which are often unwritten and contested. A familiar pattern is repeating: the company wants speed, the government wants investment, and the affected families are squeezed in the middle. The real test will be whether the July 31 public hearing records are made public, and whether the verification promised by the JNC covers every single landholder, not just the influential ones.
Sources (2): thehindu.com, thehindu.com (2)
This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above.
Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources.
