SHILLONG: The Jaintia People Welfare Organization (JPWO), which has been opposing setting up of cement plants in Jaintia Hills district, conducted a survey of the limestone quarries, which the Cement Manufacturing Company Ltd. (CMCL) has taken on lease and also the area where the company had set up its plant.

The survey revealed that the cement plant actually exists in an abandoned land. “It is on this basis that the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MOEF), Government of India has given permission to the CMCL to set up its plant,” said SS Dkhar, president, JPWO.