By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The members of the High Level Committee (HLC) on Influx have rejected the figures furnished by the Police and Labour departments respectively on the number of illegal foreign immigrants and Indian migrant workers detected in the State since 2001.
In compliance with the Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979, the Labour department has registered a total number of 5,432 migrant labourers in the past 11 years even as 103 work permits were issued during this period as per the final report of the HLC on Influx.
The report also revealed that the infiltration wing of the Police has detected a total number of 12,957 foreign illegal immigrants who attempted to enter into the State from 2001 till August 2012 and the department managed to prosecute 689 foreign illegal immigrants during the period while 12,268 were pushed back directly.
However, the final report of the committee said that the members were not convinced with the credibility of the data furnished by the police and the labour departments on the status of influx including the number of migrant labourers as the “figures provided did not appear to correlate with the ground reality”.
“The nature and cause of influx was also not projected and analyzed in the presentation of both the police and the labour departments to indicate whether influx was due to economic opportunities available in the State or due to a desire to assimilate with the local society in the area,” the report said.
The break-up of the registration of migrant workers indicated in the final report of the HLC on influx for the past 11 years are 616 (2001), 41 (2002), 772 (2003), 820 (2004), 500 (2005), 1129 (2006), 59 (2007), Nil (2008), 150 (2009), 540(2010), 28 (2011) and 28 (upto January 2012).
The break up on the numbers of work permits issued during 2001 to January 2012 mentioned in the final report are 24 (2001), 2 (2002), 2 (2003), 3 (2004), 1(2005), 37 (2006), 2 (2007), Nil (2008), 1 (2009), 15 (2010), 14 (2011) and 2 (upto January 2012).
A total number of 117 licenses have been issued to the contractors during the period from 2001 to 2011.
The break up on the number of licenses issued to the contractor are 15 (2001), 3 (2002), 8 (2003), 15 (2004), 21(2005), 36 (2006), 6 (2007), Nil (2008), 1 (2009), 10 (2010) and 2 (2011).
At the same time, the break up on the number of workmen which are registered with the contractors in the past ten years are 515 (2001), 95 (2002), 289 (2003), 423 (2004), 347(2005), 1092 (2006), 344 (2007), Nil (2008), 100 (2009), 692 (2010) and 38 (2011).