Bandh timing reduced from 24 to 12 hours

Shillong, October 16: The pro Inner Line Permit (ILP) ngos have decided to reduce the proposed bandh timing from 24 hours to 12 hours on October 17. The decision was taken by the thirteen ngos following request from a certain Church whose programme is slated to start from Thursday.

“We have decided to reduce the timing of the bandh to 12 hours only from 5 am to 5 pm tomorrow in view of religious activities,” Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) vice president Frederick Kharmawphlang informed on Wednesday.

Yesterday, the thirteen ngos demanding the implementation of the Inner Line Permit (ILP) had decided to call for a twenty-four hours statewide “bandh” in protest against the state government’s adamant attitude towards meeting their demand.

The bandh will be effective in the 11 districts of the state, Kharmawphlang said. “Our stand is the same. We will continue to intensify our stir till the state government implements the ILP in the state,” he asserted.

The agitations of the pro ILP ngos had started since September 4 following failure of their talks with the state government on August 29.

The ngos have been demanding the state government implement the ILP to check unabated inflow of illegal influx into the state as per recommendation of the High Level Committee on Influx (HLCI) headed by the then Deputy Chief Minister Bindo M Lanong.

But the state government wants to instead implement the Tenancy Act as it felt that the ILP is an archaic law that does not suit the present day and the Tenancy Act will be more effective in checking influx into the state.- By Our Reporter