SHILLONG: In the context of the current imbroglio with regards to labour and trading licenses, KHADC Executive Member in charge Labour, James Ban Basaiawmoit, has stated that it was mandatory for non-tribal labourers to submit their EPIC card for obtaining labour license.
“We have been insisting that non-tribal labourers should submit their EPIC cards instead of residential certificates to ensure that they are not considered as permanent residents,” Basaiawmoit said.
The KHADC EM made it clear that even if non-tribal residents from Meghalaya submit their EPIC, they will not be considered as permanent residents of the State.
Meanwhile, KHADC CEM Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit, while reiterating that the present Executive Committee has been tried to streamline the existing system, said that professionals in different fields who are paying professional tax to the Council would no longer need to obtain labour license.
He said journalists, lawyers and doctors, among others, who pay professional tax to the Council, do not have to apply for the labour license.
The KHADC CEM, however, informed that all categories of labourers (unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled) would require trading license from the Council to work in the State.
Surprisingly, the State Labour department has not imposed any severe restrictions on the issue of labour license saying that the onus of responsibility was more on the contractors who employ workers from outside the State.
