SHILLONG: The state government’s decision to implement the amended Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act under which those visiting the state for more than 24 hours would have to register themselves, has not gone down well with the tourism sector.
The government last week took the ordinance route to implement the amended Act. The ordinance will remain valid for six months.
The founding chairman of the Meghalaya Tourism Development Forum, RG Lyngdoh, said while the intention is good the announcement was a little premature.
“Firstly, it is not spelt out how the government would determine whether a visitor intends to stay for 24 hours or longer. Secondly, the infrastructure required to carry out the exercise should have been put in place and tested before the announcement was made,” Lyngdoh said.
He said that Arunachal Pradesh has put in place a robust and smooth online system for implementing the ILP and this seems to be working well, so a workable solution is possible.
“But wrinkles should have been ironed out and fears allayed before putting it in the public domain. As of now, the announcement has clearly created a lot of anxiety among tour operators, visitors and residents alike,” he said.
Ian Khongmen, an entrepreneur who has also worked in the tourism sector for long, echoed Lyngdoh saying the announcement was premature and meant to only satisfy the pressure groups.
“The government is quite evidently playing to the gallery. How are they going to ascertain if someone has the intention to stay beyond 24 hours? How do we know whether one is travelling to Aizawl or Agartala or Silchar? Are they included as visitors?” he questioned.
Like Lyngdoh again, he also felt the mechanism required to run the system smoothly should have been put in place and tested before making the announcement.
Meanwhile, the Federation of Shillong Hotels in its emergent meeting has also expressed concern over the ordinance terming it as an act which will prove to be disastrous for the tourism sector and has decided to meet the chief minister to express their resentment.
Earlier, Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong had claimed that the Act would be good for the safety of the people visiting the state.
