The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) on Friday announced its decision to continue intensifying checking of documents of migrant workers till the Meghalaya government is ready to put effective anti-influx mechanisms in place.
The announcement was made by KSU chief Lambokstarwell Marngar after attending a meeting called by the Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma at the government secretariat.
“We will intensify further in checking till we see the government is ready to put in place effective anti-influx mechanisms by ensuring that the inner line permit (ILP) and Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security (MRSSA), 2016 is implemented at the earliest,” Marngar told reporters.
The KSU chief said that the chief minister had told the delegation that he would soon call a meeting with all NGOs to discuss the issue related to the MRSSA.
“We are even yet to see the observations made by the Centre while returning the MRSSA but despite this we insist that the MRSSA, 2016 should be implemented where the district task force (DTF) has been constituted and are being headed by the DCs and SPs besides traditional heads but it seems that the DTFs are functional only in 7 localities of Shillong city so therefore, we insist that the government should address the issue of people coming to the state without proper documentation,” he said.
Marngar also maintained, “If discussions will only end in the government examining these long pending demands then we will have no choice but to examine them outside the secretariat on the things that we need to get done. If the government continues to take so much to examine important laws, we too don’t have time to wait but to take action on the ground.”
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“The ongoing exercise is a wake up call to the state government that its duty is to aggressively take up with the Centre for immediate implementation of the ILP in Meghalaya,” he added.
KSU general secretary Donald V Thabah said, “The government has assured us to look into these matters but as we have stated, we are tired with the word of “examination” as it might take one-two months or it might take 5-10 years. Therefore, the KSU will continue to be vigilant in checking the entry of people into the state.”
Thabah also informed that the delegation has pointed out that The Meghalaya Identification, Registration (Safety & Security) of Migrant Workers Act, 2020 is a “weak” Act as it has got too many loopholes.
“This is because if you look at the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, the documents that need to be furnished are photo ID and police verification from the states that they come apart from other documents. However, in the new Act, police verification is not there. So we have asked the government that the police verification should be made mandatory for registration of migrant workers in the state,” he said.
“Also, the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act has stated that the penalty will be one year for a contractor, who violated the Act but in the new Act, they have to pay only Rs 5000. Just imagine a big contractor or company from the state or outside they can easily pay Rs 5000 but if there is a jail penalty then it will affect them and there is a chance for them to be blacklisted. Therefore, jail penalties should be there,” he asserted.
Asked, Thabah said that the delegation was informed that the BJP-led NDA government had told the NPP-led MDA government that implementation of both ILP and MRSSA will infringe with Article 19 of the Indian Constitution whereby it will restrict the movement of people in certain parts of the country.
However, there is no official communication yet from the Centre on ILP as well as inclusion of Eighth Schedule to the Constitution.
“So our question is if ILP in Meghalaya will violate Article 19 why the NDA government granted ILP to Manipur in 2019? That is the question if they can give to them why not us. Centre says it is because of Article 19 but our question is that if ILP in Manipur and other ILP states like Nagaland and Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh are not violating Article 19 how can it be a violation in our state and apart from that the chief minister also argued that we have the Sixth Schedule, yes we have Sixth Schedule and how can Sixth Schedule fully protect us because if we look at non-scheduled areas like Pynthorumkhrah, Laban and others we see that non-tribal population have overwhelmed the indigenous, so Sixth Schedule cannot be compared to ILP,” he said.
Furthermore in regards to the delay to set up entry and exit points, the KSU general secretary said, “The MRSSA was implemented (enacted) in 2016, we can call it the principal Act but at that time when an entry gate is constructed at Umling then this government decided to amend the Act which is according to them was in order to fill in the loopholes but then the Governor refuses assent and it attracts the intention of the MHA. So now the question we got news that the MHA has returned the MRSSA to the state government. They told us that the government of India is still examining the MRSSA so that’s why there are a lot of examinations and we cannot wait for these examinations.”
“Any Act can be amended once it becomes obsolete so the principal Act has not yet been fully implemented so how can it be obsolete. We are pushing for the implementation of the original MRSSA or even the amended MRSSA, we are open to both,” he declared.
To another question, Thabah said that it is not in the habit of the KSU to demand the release of its jailed members or demand police to stop issuing summon orders to its members.
“Our focus or objective is on the issues be it MRSSA, ILP or Eighth Schedule. If you go and talk to our members, who are in jail or those who are being summoned they will tell you the same thing - we are not afraid of going to jail and not afraid of appearing before the police station but what we want is ILP or MRSSA,” he added.
