SHILLONG, July 30 � Meghalaya government�s decision to include Bangladeshi nationals with Indian citizenship certificate in its recruitment drive for officers post in the forest department has irked several pressure groups in the state, including the influential Khasi Students� Union (KSU), which has demanded clarification in the matter.
The Meghalaya Public Service Commission (MPSC) recently published an advertisement for recruitment of assistant conservator of forest for residents of Meghalaya in which Bangladeshi nationals possessing Indian citizenship certificate are also eligible for the post. �This is intolerable and the government should clarify,� KSU general secretary Auguster Jyrwa said after meeting officials of the MPSC today. He quoted MPSC secretary as saying that the advertisement had come from the Forest department and hence published accordingly.
The forest department in the advertisement released through the MPSC had invited applications for filling up two posts of assistant conservator of forest.
The advertisement stated that �Displaced persons from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) permanently residing in Meghalaya or intending to reside permanently, possessing Indian citizenship certificate may also apply.� The KSU, which is spearheading an anti-influx agitation in the State for the past two decades, said it would write to the Chief Conservator of Forest for clarification on the advertisement.
�We have not heard of such advertisement before and this is like selling our plates to foreigners,� Agnes Kharshiing, a leading women�s group leader said.
The KSU, the Federation of Khasi Jaintia and Garo People and 18 other pressure groups are on a statewide campaign for implementation of the inner line permit which is in existence in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram, to fend off �outsiders�.
Chief Minister Mukul Sangma had recently admitted at the conference of Chief Ministers on internal security that the State has been facing the problem of influx of people with doubtful citizenship from the neighbouring states of Assam, Tripura and West Bengal. � PTI
