SHILLONG, Aug 1 - Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma today said he is personally monitoring the �fluid situation,� in the aftermath of the publication of the final draft of National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam.
�Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents of Police of East Jaintia Hills, Ri-bhoi, North Garo Hills, West Garo Hills and West Khasi Hills, bordering Assam, have been asked to send daily reports to me,� Sangma said.
The Government has taken the decision fearing influx of people from Assam who didn�t find their names figuring in the final NRC draft list. The State Government has asked the DCs and SPs to be on the highest alert so that people without proper Indian citizenship papers don�t sneak into the State.
Sangma said some of the districts are vulnerable as they border Assam and said all steps are being taken to stop any possible entry of people without requisite papers.
In this regard, Khasi Students� Union has set up infiltration check gates at Ri-Bbhoi, East Jaintia Hills and West Khasi Hills districts of their own and has been checking papers of those entering into the State. There were huge queues of vehicles along National Highways due to these checks.
Sangma, however, maintained that it�s �not appropriate� for non-govermental agencies to conduct such checks and said the Government is mandated to conduct these checks. �The Government has set up different check points in different locations during the past two days. We are doing it,� Sangma informed.
Meanwhile, KSU today petitioned the Government to conduct an �NRC-like exercise� in the State to identify genuine and non-genuine residents.
�We proposed to the State Government to conduct an NRC-like exercise in Meghalaya with the cut-off year of 1971 to segregate the genuine and non-genuine residents,� KSU president L Marngar said.
The KSU president said the proposal to conduct an NRC-like exercise should be conducted with 1971 as the cut off year because that was the year the Bangladesh Liberation War took place and thousands of people from then East Pakistan migrated to the State.
In its petition to Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong, the KSU informed that over 1,500 illegal immigrants were identified in the past two days who didn�t find their names in NRC list in Assam.
Marngar also expressed concern over the �spill-over� effects of immigrants from Assam into the State. �It is likely that some of the 40 lakh rejects, if not all, will try to infiltrate into Meghalaya owing to the porous 900 km-long inter-State border and lack of stringent mechanisms to curb influx,� the KSU said.
Tynsong assured the KSU delegation that the government will examine the petition and take an unanimous decision.
