Shillong, Apr 4: Cabinet minister and Meghalaya government spokesperson, Paul Lyngdoh today said there is a need for the state government to address the queries raised by the Centre and show that it is in a position to implement the inner line permit (ILP).
Speaking to media persons, Lyngdoh said that Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma had recently met Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the issue.
“It is not that the Centre is against per se to the idea of ILP, but they have raised a few queries, and these queries are important for us to address and to satisfy the Centre that we are in a position to actually implement ILP once the Centre agrees to it,” he stated.
“For instance, the issue of Meghalaya being a transit point has been flagged at several such meetings and as you are aware, we are also a transit point to states including Mizoram and Tripura apart from districts within Assam itself. So, the challenge is how do you facilitate a system like the ILP with Meghalaya being a transit point to the point that the union home ministry has repeatedly made that they felt we already have the Sixth Schedule and the Land Transfer Act in place and the ADCs, which also are constitutionally mandated with a lot of laws. So, these were the concerns, and it is not the end of the road for our states, but discussions and negotiations are ongoing, and our effort would be to persuade the centre by responding to their queries satisfactorily,” Lyngdoh added.
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Meanwhile, the minister also hailed the Centre’s decision to pass the Immigration and Foreigners Bill, 2025 which seeks to regulate immigration, entry and stay of foreigners in India.
Terming it as a major development, Lyngdoh said, “It is certainly very welcoming for a state like Meghalaya, which shares a very long international border, which is also a very porous border and also we are next door to Assam, which is very prone to illegal immigration.”
“It is going to change and in fact tighten our grip on illegal immigration into the North East and going by the current political situation in neighbouring Bangladesh, which is very volatile, we certainly need adequate steps to ensure that the state’s demographic balance is not disturbed by the phenomenon of illegal immigration. So, we are thankful that the government at the centre is giving adequate attention to this matter,” he added further.
(Newmai News Network)