SHILLONG, MAY 5: The Jaintia Students’ Union (JSU), Khliehriat Circle on Tuesday filed a “formal, uncompromising objection” with the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board (MSPCB) against the proposed 217.394-hectare limestone mine by M/s Shree Cement Limited at Lum Syrman, Elaka Nongkhlieh, demanding the immediate suspension of the public hearing and scrapping of the project.
In a letter to the MSPCB Member Secretary, JSU President Livingson Sama said the Union would launch an immediate, district-wide democratic agitation if the clearance process continues, and escalate the matter to the National Green Tribunal and the Meghalaya High Court.
“If the MSPCB chooses to ignore these irrefutable legal and ecological realities and proceeds with this flawed clearance process, you will leave our community with no choice. We will launch an immediate, district-wide democratic agitation to protect our Elaka. Furthermore, we will escalate this meticulously documented fraud directly to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and the Hon’ble High Court of Meghalaya,” the letter stated.
“Should this proceed, we will ensure that the MSPCB, alongside the SEIAA, is held absolutely liable for willful dereliction of duty, ecological sabotage, and complicity in the illegal alienation of tribal land,” it added.
The Union demanded the immediate suspension of the public hearing, the revocation of the invalid TOR, and the scrapping of this deceptive project, asserting, “Our land is not for sale, and our environment is not collateral damage for corporate profit.”
JSU termed the project’s classification as ‘Category B1’ a “blatant statutory anomaly,” arguing that under the EIA Notification of 2006, any mining lease exceeding 50 hectares “automatically falls under ‘Category A’,” requiring scrutiny by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in New Delhi.
“The State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), Meghalaya, has acted completely ultra vires by issuing a Terms of Reference (TOR) for a project of this magnitude. The MSPCB cannot facilitate a public hearing based on an inherently illegal TOR,” Sama said.
The Union also alleged that the draft EIA attempts to erase the ecological wealth of the region.
“The EIA minimizes the Wah Litein River as a mere geographic feature. For our people, it is an agrarian lifeline. The mining boundary directly abuts this river,” the letter noted, warning of sediment and toxic runoff without a 1 km buffer.
It further flagged risks to fragile limestone Karst topography and ancient cave systems, calling them “the architectural vaults of our groundwater.”
On land ownership, JSU said the proponent’s claim is derived from a “highly disputed ‘Agreement for Sale’ dated October 6, 2025,” alleging it seeks to transfer “community tribal land to a corporate entity headquartered in Rajasthan, openly defying Section 3 of the Meghalaya Transfer of Land (Regulation) Act, 1971.”
“Our Union has already initiated aggressive legal proceedings to nullify this transfer. The MSPCB is legally and morally bound to halt any environmental clearances on lands where the foundational title is currently being contested,” Sama said.
“We approach this Board today not as mere petitioners, but as the mandated custodians of our ancestral lands. When an outside corporate entity attempts to carve out 217 hectares of our district, it ceases to be a simple administrative matter of environmental clearance. It becomes a question of our survival,” the letter said.
“The indigenous youth of Jaintia Hills have watched too many hills flattened and too many rivers poisoned because statutory bodies chose to look the other way. We will not allow Lum Syrman to be added to that tragic list,” it added, calling the letter a final formal warning.
By Our Reporter
