Meghalaya matriarch becomes rallying point for anti-uranium mining resolve

GUWAHATI

The fifth death anniversary of matriarch Spility Lyngdoh Langrin, who became the face of resistance against uranium mining in Meghalaya, has become a rallying point for local organizations to oppose any proposal by the Center to extract the radioactive element.

Langrin was 95 years old when he died on October 28, 2020. He became a household name when he rejected a lucrative offer from the government to buy his land in the uranium-rich Domiasiat district in the South West Khasi Hills region of the state, following the Atomic Minerals Directorate’s exploratory drilling for uranium deposits in 1993.

“We celebrated his death anniversary as Anti-Uranium Day and reaffirmed our strong and uncompromising stand against any proposal to mine uranium in Domiasiat,” Khasi Students Union (KSU) president Lambokstar Marngar said in a statement on Tuesday, October 28, 2025.

The main reason behind this decision was an office notification recently issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change exempting uranium mining from mandatory public consultations. “This exemption under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act is an attack on the rights of indigenous people,” Mr Marngar said.

The state has one of the largest uranium reserves in the country in Domiasiat, Wahkaji, Mawthabah and adjoining areas in the West Khasi Hills district. Local people resisted attempts to discover and extract radioactive material.

KSU regional unit leaders said they will never let down Langrin, the symbol of courage.

Local residents and members of other organizations, including the Hynniewtrep Youth Council, recalled how the matriarch’s actions inspired her community to resist potential environmental damage and health problems from uranium mining. “Money can’t buy me freedom,” he said, motivating locals against selling off their ancestral lands for the mining project.

Meghalaya has one of the largest uranium reserves in the country in Domiasiat, Wahkaji and adjoining areas in the South West Khasi Hills region. These villages are close to the state’s border with Bangladesh.

The second phase of the agitation led by Langrin began in 2009 when the Meghalaya government gave permission to Uranium Corporation of India Limited to carry out exploration activities in 422 hectares in the district. At that time, it was estimated that there were 9.22 million tonnes of high-quality uranium ore deposits in the state.

Incessant protests by locals in Jharkhand’s Jaduguda, who were trained on the effects of uranium mining, led the government to cancel the permit in August 2016.