ILP meeting fails, ngos call bandh

SHILLONG, AUG 29: The much awaited meeting between ngos and the state government over the demand for implementation of the Inner Line Permit (ILP) in the state failed to throw up any solution and the unhappy ngos who walked   out of the meeting on Thursday has immediately called for a twelve hours bandh next Monday.

The twelve hours bandh will be from 5 am to 5 pm.

The meeting not only remained inconclusive but also saw both the sides- ngos and state government- sticking to their stands. While the ngos wanted the state government to implement ILP to control influx, the MUA II coalition government of Mukul Sangma wanted other mechanisms instead of ILP to control the influx issue in the state.

Unhappy at the outcome of the meeting on Thursday, the ngos consisting of the KSU, FKJGP and others walked out of the meeting shouting “No ILP, No Rest” and “Mukul Sangma Down, Down.” Besides the ngos, several government officials led by the chief minister held discussion with the ngos in the effort to impress upon the ngos leaders to settle for other mechanism barring the ILP for controlling illegal migrants from coming into Meghalaya.

Even as the ngos remained adamant that the government must implement the ILP as demanded, Sangma, however, advocated other comprehensive and institutionalized mechanism to deal with the issue of illegal immigrants in the state.

Sangma later told reporters that the government is committed to expeditiously implement various laws including foreign tenancy act to deal with the issue of influx in the state. He stated that the state government in last three years has taken various measures by way of strengthening the enforcing agencies to deal with the influx issue.

Sangma said, “117 posts have been sanctioned for the directorate of infiltration and we will sanction more.” He also pointed out that the government has established task force to be headed by deputy commissioners wherein various agencies are required to work in synergy to check the credentials of immigrants into the state.

Sangma also underscored on the need to implement the National Population Register in the state stating that the NPR will help great deal to verify the credentials of the people since documents cannot be forged

Sangma informed that the government through its laws want to even bring the  employers   of coal mine rich areas into the ambit of the law since there is a nexus between employers and illegal immigrants and this is proved since BSF has detained illegal immigrants while they try to cross over to Bangladesh after working here.

Meanwhile KSU president Daniel Khyriem told reporters after the meeting that the stand of KSU and other ngos is same as it was and they would not come to any settlement until and unless the government implements the ILP in the state.

After the bandh on Monday, Khyriem informed that the ngos would again sit and decide their future course of action.

Khyriem also said that the Sangma has made a joke of the recommendations of the  High Level Committee which was constituted by the government itself last year.

FKJGP president Joe Marwein said that the purpose of the bandh is to pressurize the state government to implement the ILP in the state since he felt that the ILP is the only solution to curb influx  and the illegal migration to the state.

Marwein also said that the ngos would hold discussions with the government only if the government agrees to implement ILP in the state.-By Our Reporter