By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: A delegation of the Meghalaya government will leave for New Delhi on Tuesday in its bid to the meet the Union Home Minister Amit Shah over the issue of implementing Inner Liner Permit in the state.
The meeting between the state government and the union home minister is due since December last year for consultations on the demand for implementing Inner Line Permit in the state.
The appointment for the meeting has been sought by the government though the state has not got any acknowledgement from the union home minister.
Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Monday said that they want to meet the union home minister on Tuesday evening or Wednesday but there has been no confirmation.
Some of the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance partners have already left for Delhi while the chief minister and a few of his cabinet colleagues will leave for the national capital on Tuesday.
BJP MLA and Health Minister AL Hek, who also left for New Delhi on Monday, said that he is looking forward for a positive outcome.
The members of the United Progressive Front (UPF) are optimistic that the meeting with the union home minister in the days to come will be fruitful after several appointments with Shah failed.
Speaking to reporters after meeting the chief minister on Monday, UPF member Banteidor Lyngdoh said that the members met the chief minister to remind him about the demand for implementation of ILP and meet the union home minister.
Lyngdoh said, “Tomorrow (Tuesday), we will leave for Delhi. The CM will leave with a few cabinet ministers and leaders of different political parties to seek an appointment with Shah. It can take two or three days but we will make sure to meet him. We will camp in Delhi from tomorrow (Tuesday) and we are likely to meet him on the 19th or 20th”,
He went on to add that the members of the UPF are hopeful that Shah will hear their pleas for ILP.
Another UPF member Lambor Malngiang said that the members of the UPF are prepared to speak with Shah on ILP and they look forward to have a fruitful discussion.
Senior UDP leader Jemino Mawthoh hoped that the meeting will bear fruits.
On the growing sense of impatience due to the delay in implementing ILP, he said that in politics one needs to have patience and the objective is to bring a controlled mechanism to check illegal immigration and their focus is on that.
He reasoned that the state has been demanding for the last four decades to bring an effective and controlled mechanism, so a little more wait should be alright.
Earlier, under pressure from various civil society groups and NGOs, the state government had passed a resolution on December 19 to pursue with the Centre to implement ILP in the state.