SHILONG: Issuing words of caution to perpetrators of arson and other criminal activities, Labour Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh said, “We cannot allow this to happen.”
Asking ‘miscreants’ to refrain from attacking migrant labourers, Lyngdoh said “It is a very sad development and we have to be firm.”
The statement of the Minister assumes significance in view of the recent development in which miscreants tried to kill a non-tribal labourer by pouring petrol on kim. The incident occurred at a labour camp at Umshing Mawkynroh.
Besides this, some non-tribal labourers working in saw mills in Nongstoin were asked to leave Nongstoin after assaulting them on September 11.
Speaking to reporters here, Lyngdoh said Khasi people are minorities in other parts of the county where youths from Meghalaya go for studies and jobs and “this kind of incidents can have chain reactions.”
She pointed out that Government has to be firm while dealing with such cases besides protecting the rights of each individual.
When asked how the department plans to keep a tab on the migrant labourers who come to the State, she said the department recently appointed ten labour inspectors and the interview process of nineteen more was on.
“The district task force is also working in this regard,” Lyngdoh added.