GUWAHATI: Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement (KHNAM) has cautioned the state government to be on its toes against illegal migration in the wake of the Supreme Court setting aside the coal mining ban in Meghalaya.
KHNAM, while underlining the importance of incorporation of the mining policy, said that the ban on coal mining for about five years by the National Green Tribunal had to an extent discouraged migration of labourers to Meghalaya.
“The coal mines in the state have always attracted labourers from other states. In the wake of the apex court setting aside the mining ban, it may once again encourage migration of coal mine labourers to the state. This is an aspect which the state government needs to be wary of and take proper steps to ensure that it never happens,” Thomas Passah, president, KHNAM state youth wing, told The Shillong Times on Sunday.
Terming the NGT’s mining ban as a “lesson” for the state, Passah said that it also brought about a realisation that the importance of environment and natural resources could not be sidelined to facilitate unscientific and unregulated coal mining.
KHNAM, while reiterating that only a proper mechanism such as the inner line permit (ILP) could prevent illegal influx, said that it was not clear how amendments to Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act, 2016, would make it like ILP.
“The deputy chief minister had talked about ILP-like clauses to be inserted in the Act, but if that is possible, we fail to understand why ILP cannot be implemented to check influx,” he said.
The regional party further recalled how the MUA-II government had formed a committee to study the feasibility of ILP in the state only to ignore its positive recommendations.
“The assurance of entry and exit points too has not materialised as allocation of land for some of them has not been made and there is ambiguity on the locations. Now, the MDA government says it will amend the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act but we are totally in the dark as to what those clauses are,” Passah said.
