India, Oct. 22 -- Meghalaya's Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) on Wednesday asked the Centre to exclude tribal areas under its jurisdiction from the operation of a central government order that scrapped the requirement for public hearings before mining "atomic minerals" such as uranium.

KHADC chief executive member Winston Tony Lyngdoh said the Council rejects the MoEFCC's Office Memorandum (OM) dated September 8, 2025 of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change's (MoEFCC), which ended the requirement for public hearings in mining projects of atomic, critical and strategic minerals under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2023.

"This memorandum is an infringement on our age-ol...