SHILLONG, Oct 26 ? The Khasi Students? Union (KSU) has reiterated its demand for the introduction of the Inner Line Permit (ILP) system into the State to check the unabated influx of outsiders and foreign nationals. At present, the north-eastern States of Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland have the system of Inner-Line Permit, which according to the students? organisation of Meghalaya, is an important tool in checking illegal migration.
Talking to reporters, Union president Samuel Jyrwa said if the state government did not agree with the recommendations of the cabinet sub-committee, which was earlier constituted to delve into the matter, then the ILP system should be introduced in state. Jyrwa also urged the government to expedite the process of implementing the recommendations of the sub-committee on influx.
The Cabinet sub-committee, constituted to deal with the vexed problem of influx of ?foreigners? and ?outsiders? into the state had recommended several steps to check the menace, including introduction of a three-tier identity card system with 1971 as the ?cut-off? year to determine three category of residents ? permanent, semi-permanent and temporary.
The sub-committee also recommended the legislation of a ?non-resident workers bill? before enactment of an act for the issuance of work permits to the economically migrant labourers working in the hill state.
Further, the sub-committee demanded the Central government to extend its multi-purpose national identity card system to Meghalaya. The recommendations at present await the approval of the State Law department, which has sought more time from the government to take a decision in this regard.
Expressing concern over the continuing inflow of Bangladeshis into the state, the KSU president cautioned that if not tackled, the problem would be further complicated. The Union would wait till the next Cabinet meeting, following which it would chalk out its further course of action in this regard, he said.
Earlier, Chief Minister DD Lapang had urged the Centre to take immediate measures for introduction of the National Multipurpose Identity Card scheme taking Meghalaya as the ?pilot state?. Migrant labourers are the backbone of the privately-owned coal and limestone mines in Jaintia Hills, East Khasi hills, West Khasi Hills and South Garo Hills of Meghalaya, mainly because they are available for the jobs at a much cheaper rate. Meghalaya shares a 423-km long porous international border with Bangladesh, of which only about 195 km has been fenced so far.
Though there is no official figure on the exact number illegal migrants in Meghalaya, there have been reports that the state has been suffering from the problem of secondary migration from Assam and North Bengal. As the neighbouring state of Assam has as high as 30 lakh foreigners, the migrants often enter Meghalaya, looking for greener pastures.
As a result of the secondary migration from Assam, the Meghalaya government has been facing difficulty in pushing back the foreigners as they were always equipped with forged land and citizenship documents to legitimise their stay.
While the problem of infiltration in Meghalaya has not taken the shape of Assam as yet, social scientists feel that steps like the introduction of work permits and identity cards would be the right move to keep the tribal people of the state away from socio-political catastrophe.