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---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Shri Prakash Date: Aug 29, 2005 6:59 PM Subject: Joar- Victory Today is the remarkable day in the history of anti nuke movement of India as the Pollution Control Board and UCIL (Uranium Corporation Of India limited) officials were forces for retreat back from the public hearing due to strong public protest by the villagers of Mahudih and others villages, which they have organised at Mahuldih, regarding theproposed uranium mining project on 29-08-05. Today the movement which JOAR (Jhrakahndi Organisation against Radiation) is organising since last numbers of years has been ultimately achieving real results when the people armed with information regarding Uranium mining and its hazards which brought them in the public hearing to oppose the relocation from their villages.It may be looks small Victory but it is a big step for us and particularly in this present economical and political scenario we need your support and solidarity to continue our ongoing struggle. On behalf of JOAR Ghanshyam BiruleeDumka MurmuDemak soiCharan Murmu Shriprakash- The struggle against radioactivity of JOAR (Jharkhandi Organisation Against Radiation) reached a new dimension today during the public hearing for the proposed Mohuldih mines. The villagers of Mohuldih and more than 10 other affected villages unanimously declared that they do not want uranium mines at the expense of their land and livelihood.They forced the Jharkhand Pollution Control Board officials and officials of UCIL to retreat when they had come for conducting the public hearing at Mohuldih. "We will give our lives but not our land"was their united slogan.The public hearing which was initially scheduled to beheld on the 5 of August had already once been postponed to the 29th by the demand of the people of the area. However, even today when the PCB and UCIL officials arrived for the hearing, they were not even allowed to enter the site of the public hearing by the villagers. Men and women from more than 12 villages around Mohuldih, which would be affected by the proposed Mohuldih mines vehemently, opposed the hearing, stating that they neither need a hearing nor a uranium mine. They declared to the officials that they would not let go of their land in any circumstance. 'The mine will last for 30 years; what will happen to us after that? Our land has supported us for generations and will continue to do so', they stated. 'We have seen what has happened to the villagers who have been displaced by the other uranium mines. They have not got any facilities, which were promised to them, none of the promises made of rehabilitation has been fulfilled. We cannot rely on their false promises and lose our livelihood', they said. JOAR and other organizations who had come to the site to attend the public hearing and speak on the yet-another faulty EIA report prepared by Mecon Consultants on behalf of UCIL. However, before they could arrive on the site, the people of the area had already expressed their opinion to the Pollution Control Board. 'Mecon should be blacklisted for continuously producing these low quality,misleading reports for each of the uranium mines of UCIL' says people from Movement Against Uranium Project. The EIA report in itself is riddled with faults. It is a rapid EIA, made by a study of 4 months only,instead of a comprehensive report which is imperative considering the fact that there are 4 other mines in the nearby area. 'No where in the entire report has any mention been made of the radioactive health hazards,not even to state that there will be no hazard,completely denying the health aspects of uranium radiation. The whole project affects 6 villages, and yet, ludicrously, the report finds that there will be only 16 displaced families. There has been no consultation by the consultants with the villagers to look into the cultural and traditional customs of the area and completely neglects to say how the culture of the area will be protected from degeneration,' says an activist from the Human Rights Law Network.A comparison of the EIA report of the Mohuldih mine and the executive summary of the Baghjanta mine shows that Mecon thinks that the people are idiots whom they can fool by saying anything.Although both the projects have a capacity of 500 TPD, the no of people employed by the former is 290 and by the latter is 350. For the same production capacity and ore quality, hydraulic stowing requirements in Mohuldihis half of that of Baghjanta. However, in spite of employing more people in Baghjanta, the drinking water requirement is less there than in Mohuldih! The report should have been rejected by the PCB for supplying false data and wrong data according to the EIA Notification,1994.The ongoing agitation is a heroic act on the part ofthe people,' says Arvind Ghosh, an Anti-Nuclear activist from Nagpur, who was also present forthe hearing.'At least this opposition should help to bring UCIL to its senses and revert its decision to start uranium mines irrespective of people's opinions, as it has done before' says Prakash Meghe, lawyer from Nagpur. 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