State Govt to move Centre against Balpakram drilling SHILLONG: The State Government has decided to move the Centre against the proposed exploratory drilling inside the Balpakram National park (BNP) in South Garo Hills. Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma informed this to a delegation of the Garo Students' Union (GSU), which met him here on Thursday. The Government has decided to take up the matter with the Central Government after opposition to uranium mining inside the national park gained momentum with all major NGOs along with students and social groups coming together to protest the move by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) to go ahead with its project. Talking to reporters after the meeting with the Chief Minister, the GSU general secretary Sanjeeb Sangma said Dr Sangma assured the students' body that the matter would be taken up with the Central Government. It was decided during the meeting that the drilling exercises would be taken with the rightful consent of the people. ''It is a scared place for us and the government cannot override the sentiments of the people,'' Mr Sangma said. The students' body also reiterated its opposition to the proposed drilling in the national park as according to them the drilling was merely a precursor to the actual mining of uranium inside the park. The GSU also said that the team from National Board of Wildlife (NBWL) would not be allowed to visit the park to carry out inspection. The move to drill inside the national park came to light after the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) asked the Union Ministry of Forest and Environment for de-notification of eight sq km of forest in the Balpakram National park. Our Tura Correspondent adds: Meanwhile, the GSU and the United Achik Peace Forum (UAPF), a conglomerate of all leading civil societies, have dispatched separate petitions to the Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh seeking his intervention to stop the proposed uranium exploration at Balpakram National Park. The GSU and the UAPF have pointed out that the decision to de-notify the 8 km stretch of the Rongcheng Plateau inside the national park is a pre-step to drilling which ought to be opposed by one and all. The GSU and the Forum further said mining in any form inside the national park would be considered sacrilegious. "The importance of Balpakram National Park is pellucid not only as the heritage of Garo Hills but also in its role as an ecological sanctuary," said the Forum in its letter to Ramesh. The danger to human health from uranium mining in Garo Hills was also raised in the letter. The Forum has expressed concern over contamination of the air, land and the streams from radioactive substance should mining be given a go ahead. The Forum has resolved to oppose in strongest terms the decision to de-notify the 8 km stretch of Balpakram National Park and exploratory drilling by the DAE. The Forum has also forwarded copies of the letter to local MP and Union Minister of State for Rural Development Ms Agatha K Sangma, the Director of the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India, Nuclear Fuel Complex, Director General of Forests, Ministry of Environment and Forests and also to Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma. It may be mentioned that the Balpakram National park is one of few places in the world which continues to have some of the most eye-catching birds and plants and it is also considered as one of the sacred places by the Garo people.