Govt for early implementation of Residents Act, says CM

TURA/ SHILLONG: The government will implement the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act at the earliest.
Speaking to reporters on Saturday in Tura, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said the government was trying to implement the Act at the earliest.
“We are trying to implement it at the earliest. We have to do multiple things for implementation of the ordinance”, he said.
The chief minister said that the ordinance will have to be sent to the governor for his approval.
“We also have to work on the software and a strong technology platform so that minimum inconvenience is caused to people visiting the state. We will try to finish as early as possible but the start was the cabinet clearing the ordinance and we will implement it as soon as possible”, he said.
Sangma said the idea and purpose was to ensure that people entering Meghalaya and the people in the state are safe.
“It is to ensure that we have information about people entering the state. We will have the information from hotels which will be interconnected with the database”, he said.
According to the chief minister, the software will be a simple one.
“Registration has to be done once only either before entering the state or after entering the hotel. There will be different outlets and most importantly, it is online. It will be a matter of twenty seconds and the QR code will come within that time when one registers”, he said.
Private companies
He said people who are working with private companies in the state will only have to inform the government that they are working in the state.
The chief minister asserted that the entire process will be simple and it will not be a tool to cause inconvenience to anyone.
Entry- exit points
The chief minister said the government will set up entry and exit points and these will act as facilitation centres for the visitors who do not use smart phones.
Conrad said there will be scanning of QR code while registering and if the visitors do not want to complete the formality at the entry point, they can do it in the hotels.
Sources said on Sunday that the chief minister may give nod to the Residents Act on Monday before sending it to the governor for approval.
The ordinance will take effect only after the approval of the governor and subsequent notification in the official gazette.