Shillong, Dec 13: Labelling the Meghalaya Residents, Safety and Security (Amendment) Bill (MRSSAB), 2020, as an alternative to the Inner Line Permit (ILP), Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Wednesday said the state government is re-examining the Bill after it was returned by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

Speaking to media persons, Sangma said, “MRSSAB is of course an alternative to the ILP which we had pushed and passed in the Assembly and we could not get a concurrence from the Governor and it was sent to Delhi to the President for concurrence and hence Government of India then had written back to Government of Meghalaya saying that you should revisit it because certain sections were not in line with some constitutional provisions and re-examine on how you would rediscuss it.”

“Based on that communication we are now re-examining (the MRSSAB) and of course we are speaking to different stakeholders, we are speaking to our legal team and advocate general we are seeing how we could move on this. It is complicated because central laws, state laws which we need to look into while we decide on all these aspects but as I said the process is continuous and we are going to following it up,” he said.

He informed that the consultative meeting with stakeholders on the matter will take place after New Year.

When asked, Sangma said, “You are right, the issue is influx and obviously there are multiple operations and multiple actions and multiple steps being taken at different levels. Therefore, it is not that nothing is happening as many steps have been taken by the government; whether it is the infiltration check gates, whether it is the overall move by the different departments to find these people and move towards sending them back.”

He said all these exercises have always been taking place in the past but it is totally different for ILP and MRSSA as their main concept was having some kind of a checking system for every person entering the state.

“So there has been a huge demand by the people and also by the resolution that we passed that there should be an ILP in the state of Meghalaya also and hence we have appealed to the Government of India but Government of India has not given us any clear signal,” the CM said. He added that the Meghalaya government is waiting for Centre’s approval and is continuously reminding the Centre to examine and take a decision on ILP resolution.

Read: Petroleum Union’s strike: Conrad says court will give bail not govt, urges people not to panic

WATCH:

Find latest news from every corner of Northeast India at hubnetwork.in, your online source for breaking news, video coverage.

Also, Follow us on-

Twitter-twitter.com/nemediahub

Youtube channel- www.youtube.com/@NortheastMediaHub2020

Instagram- www.instagram.com/nemediahub