Home minister address the public gathering at Tura on the ILP issue Posted about 5 hours ago | 0 comment Tura, Oct 2nd: The Inner Line Permit issue has been dividing the state between those who want its implementation and those who are against. As the issue has been burning up the state, the CM of Meghalaya has directed the District Administration of Tura and Shillong to meet with citizens and NGOs and thrash out the issue through words. However, with the NGOs of Garo Hills giving the meeting a miss, the endeavour lost a little of its fizz, yet remained strong in content. Another major surprise was the visit paid by the Home Minister, Roshan Warjri, who dropped by to speak on the issue at hand. The senior citizens and the administration got the meeting going by first introducing the ILP concept and its history of use. Everyone present agreed that the problem of influx is the biggest threat to the development of the state and the crisis that is now becoming ongoing. However, they were also of the opinion that the same could not be solved through the implementation of ILP, which has hampered growth in all the three states where it is in active service. The citizens agreed that only through the strengthening of the current laws and creating new ones to counter the influx problem could help the state. For this, the Tenancy Bill was the first step in the long process of control. They also said that the checkpoints for influx needed to be increased as well more recruitments in the Labour Department could help the state control influx. The meeting also concluded that the Nokmas needed to take up more responsibility in terms of keeping headcount in his land and ensuring that any change in number in immediately checked. This point had also been mooted by the NGOs earlier. The DC, WGH, Pravin Bakshi said, “We are serious in trying to counter the influx issue, but turning to a regressive law like ILP would only mean tourism being ruined within the state. Already, the states of Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal have had a huge dip in the number of tourists that visit, while the influx problem still exists and has hardly been effective. The justification of ILP cannot be made through slogans like No ILP, No Rest. A democracy means not only that you speak, it also means, you hear”. The Home Minister Roshan Warjri spoke to the gathering and tried to bring out the points the Government were putting up for the non implementation. She said, “While we are all aware that Manipur has passed legislation on ILP, however, the same has not been passed by the Centre. We are a developing state and if we put up a legislation like the ILP, the state would be seen as being regressive. This is something we absolutely cannot do with right now. The guarantee that ILP can solve influx is also not a given and history has shown its failure. We need more robust laws within the state to counter the influx problem. We are trying to work out things to that end”. The people present generally concluded that the ILP implementation would not really provide the right problem to counter influx. They said that the same needed to be achieved through the current set up. However, the absence of the NGOs was the talking point as they are the main agitators for the implementation. (SP News)
Posted on: Wed, 02 Oct 2013 21:29:18 +0000
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