By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The Coordination Committee on International Border (CCIB) on Wednesday came down heavily on Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma for blaming the NGOs for posing a hurdle in the fencing of the Indo-Bangla international border which he said could go a long way in solving the issue of Bangladeshi immigrants entering the State.
Lambasting the CM over his recent statement, CCIB spokesperson GH Kharshanlor said that the statement made by Dr Sangma is baseless. He further said that the immigrants enter the State not through the borders but the national highways.
“98-99 per cent of the immigrants enter the State through the national highways,” he said.
“To blame the NGOs for being responsible for influx in the state is uncalled for and unwise. He should know the ground reality before making the statement at the floor of the House”, Kharshanlor said while adding that the CM should understand the objective of the NGOs before delivering a ‘false speech’ in the Assembly.
The Chief Minister had on Monday taken a dig at some of the NGOs expressing concern over influx in the State, but were posing hurdles in the fencing of the Indo-Bangla international border, which he said would go a long way in solving the issue of Bangladeshi immigrants entering the State.
Stating that the CCIB is not against border fencing, the CCIB spokesperson said that the NGOs are more concerned with the process undertaken by the government in this regard.
It may be mentioned that the CCIB had been protesting against the alignment of border fencing stating that most of the land owned by the indigenous people are not taken into consideration while demarcating the borders.
“The Chief Minister does not seems to understand the problems faced by the land owners, residents of the border areas and the plight of the indigenous people”, Kharshanlor said.