SHILLONG, March 31: Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s failure to visit Meghalaya within March to discuss the issue of Inner Line Permit (ILP) has left the pressure groups livid and the state’s coalition government disappointed.
“The state government is disappointed that he has not visited the state,” Deputy Chief Minister, Prestone Tynsong said on Wednesday.
Earlier, Shah had “promised” to visit the state in March to discuss the demand for the implementation of ILP in the state with all stakeholders, including the pressure groups.
“He himself had assured us of the visit in front of Chief Minister (Conrad K Sangma) and me. He had said there was no need for us to bring them (leaders of pressure groups) to Delhi. He had said he would come to Meghalaya and meet everybody during his two-day stay. We are still waiting for that,” he said.
Recalling that a state government delegation had tried to meet Shah during a visit to New Delhi in February but was not successful as the latter was out of station due to elections, Tynsong said the CM had sent a reminder to the office of the Union Home Minister and a response was awaited.
He requested the leaders of NGOs and civil society groups to wait.
“As we can see, he is busy campaigning for elections in some states. I request everyone to have patience. Hopefully, he will visit the state at the end of election campaign,” Tynsong added.
Govt taking people for
a ride on ILP: Cong
The Congress has accused the NPP-led MDA government of taking the people for a ride on the ILP issue.
“It was expected that Union Home Minister Amit Shah will visit the state in March and conduct a meeting with the state government and various other organisations to discuss ILP. However, Shah’s visit, which was indicated by Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, hasn’t been confirmed yet,” senior Congress leader Ampareen Lyngdoh said.
Questioning the lack of information on the Union Minister’s visit, Lyngdoh said, “We just hope that we are not ignored. The state government is not taking the genuine demand seriously.”
“We feel that the Centre should come clean on the matter without any further dilly-dally,” Lyngdoh said.