SHILLONG: The 13 pro –ILP groups have threatened to resort to different tactics/move if the setting up of entry/exit points by the state government is delayed. The groups staged a protest on Thursday at Additional Secretariat Parking lot here.
President of Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) Lambok Marngar said, “The previous government identified 18 areas/places in Khasi Hills and 23 places in Garo Hills. We are disappointed with the performance of the present government on the snail’s pace of setting up the entry and exit points.”
He recalled that since the state government did not settle for Inner Line Permit (ILP), after in depth discussion the organizations agreed to comprehensive mechanisms such as setting up entry/exit point to check influx.
He said none of the gates were in place yet and said, “We sent a letter to the Chief Minister Conrad Sangma to get a review meeting and sit face-to-face to get a report on the progress of the entry/exit point. However, there was no response.”
Pointing to the state government’s direction to the NGOs not to take the law in their hands when the KSU had set up infiltration check gates, Marngar said, “If the state government keeps on lingering with the setting up of entry/exit point, then the government should empower the organizations and allow us to set up the gates from now on. We have been waiting for 4 years, how long will we wait?”
He said, “The state government should talk less and start with the work. In Ri-Bhoi, the place is already there and the residents are willing to give away land. What is the problem of the state government to set up the entry/exit point?”
He added that the organizations demand for ILP still stands. “None of the legislators took up the matter of discussing ILP in the Assembly although when they campaigned for election, they said the ILP was the most powerful weapon,” he said.