Villagers of a tiny hamlet near the Indo-Bangladesh border in Meghalaya's East Khasi Hills district today supported cement giant LafargeHolcim's plan to upscale production and export of limestone from two to five million tonnes per annum from its mines here.
"The village council has unanimously welcomed the expansion project of the company. The company is paying royalty to the council besides supporting agriculture, education and other livelihood programmes," village headman B Lyngdoh said while addressing the public meeting.
Urging neighbouring villages to support the company at the hearing, he said they were also reaping benefits from the Special Purpose Vehicle through which funds were routed for their overall development.
The public hearing was organised by the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board (PCB) and district deputy commissioner Peter S Dhkar chaired the meeting.
Village secretary K P Wahlang in his address, said the urban migration of people from the village has almost stopped after the company started mining.
"Youths need not travel to the city for employment avenues. The company, through its CSR activities, supports them and since then there is no migration to other places," he said.
The only opposition came from the Shella village council when they submitted a written presentation to the PCB seeking the company to resolve the issues raised by them.
Village secretary B Ora, said the company should resolve ground vibration during blasting of mines that could have an adverse impact on the houses adjacent to the mines.
The village council has also expressed its reservation with regards to the company releasing water into River Umiam, which was the primary drinking water source for the village.
The parent company, Lafarge Umiam Mining Pvt Ltd, is currently exporting two million tonnes of limestone to its cement factory at Chattak in Bangladesh through a 17 km long cross-border conveyor belt.
The company had applied for prior Environmental Clearance from the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change in 2009 and a summary environmental impact assessment report of the new project was also prepared.
The parent company was paying about Rs 18 crore annually to the SPV for undertaking various developmental activities in an area of about 50 km radius from here.
