SHILLONG: Facing pressure, Meghalaya Government has now decided to setup up its mechanism for early implementation of the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act.
Talking to media persons after holding a meeting with the East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner and the political department , Chief Minister, Conrad Sangma said, “We have decided that we will go very fast with the implementation of the MRSSA.”
The Chief Minister informed that the Deputy Commissioner would call a meeting of the task force of Shillong and East Khasi Hills.
“There are localities which have already been identified and by Tuesday, Wednesday next week programmes of sensitisation will start on how the registration should be done, Rangbahshnongs, headmen, locality people, different stakeholders would be called to discuss on how the MRSSA would be implemented.” He said.
When asked about the speculations that Sixth scheduled may be removed from the state while implementing ILP, Sangma said that there was no truth in the speculations.
“I don’t think that is a matter to be discussed at all. There is no question of Sixth Schedule to be removed as it is a protection and a privilege given to the people of the state and tribals. We are very firm as a government that there is no question of any compromise on the Sixth Schedule status,” he said.
Making it clear that the state wants ILP to be implemented , he admitted that there are challenges in achieving ILP but State Government would try to convince the Government of India to implement ILP in the state.
Reacting to a query about meeting Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, he said that they had a discussion over the phone with the Union Minister
“He has told me that as soon as he fixes a date , he will call me and I am hoping to hear from him very soon. We may get appointment next week but he did not give any specific commitment of a date,” he said.
On CAA, he reiterated that Meghalaya wanted full exemption from the Act. He said that the exemption of the state and the mechanism for protection of the indigenous population were two different things.
He said that MRSSA would be a mechanism like the ILP and the mechanism would be systematic and highly technical to ensure that the interest of the people is protected but at the same time ensuring that there is minimum inconvenience to the people who actually visit the state or come for work.