SHILLONG: Revenue Minister Kyrmen Shylla said that people living in the border areas of Meghalaya and Assam should refrain from possessing two EPICs maintaining that the people should have an identity of either being a resident of Meghalaya or Assam.
Speaking to a section of the press, the minister said that possessing two EPICs is against the law, adding the state government does not encourage such an act.
He said, “It is understood that people want benefits from both the governments, but if the people do so, it will be hard to settle claims whether they are from Meghalaya or Assam. They don’t have an identity and they also find it hard to prove whether they are from either of the two states.”
The minister said that people should be made aware that holding dual Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) is not right and cautioned the people to not resort to drastic steps as they might face the law.
Stating that the state government would prefer to have the indigenous people reside in the state rather than going to Assam, Shylla appealed to discontinue holding dual EPIC.
“As for issues of disputed areas, which has been unsolved for many years, we want the people to cooperate with us and they should not dishearten us with such acts as we cannot make claims with regard to boundaries and it weakens our stand”, Shylla said. He stated that the state government is finding ways and means to retain the border areas and called for cooperation of the people in the border areas with the state government so that the government has a basis on which it can protect its boundaries and urged the people to not continue with holding dual EPICs. “Nobody can claim to be residents of both states. It has to be either Assam or Meghalaya. They may have taken Assam’s EPIC as they may be getting benefits from there. It is all about identity whether they belong to Assam or Meghalaya”, he said.
Shylla said that it is understood that both sides – the government of Assam and Meghalaya – want to give the best to the people, while maintaining that since the people feel that they belong to Meghalaya, they should take whatever benefits that come from the state of Meghalaya, even if it is small. Asked whether he has any information of people possessing EPIC from both Meghalaya and Assam, he said that there is no proof so far of such a report.
It may be mentioned that the headman and residents of Ummat village on Tuesday decided to discard their EPIC issued by the Assam government.
The EPIC shows that Ummat falls under 20-Baithalangso Assembly Constituency whereas it falls under Mawhati Assembly Constituency.
