By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Dec 18: After the High Court of Meghalaya recently observed that a government order regulating the entry of Indian citizens may not be exercised, the modus operandi seems to have changed at the Umling entry-exit point.
Whereas earlier when entering the state, people had to register themselves through the Megtourism app, this scribe, on Wednesday morning, when en route to Shillong from Guwahati, was asked for only the vaccination status at the entry gate and no other document.
Once the vaccination status was shown, the scribe and other people who were advancing towards Shillong in a commercial vehicle were simply given an acknowledgement slip, which had the vaccination status of the individuals and vehicles numbers jotted down.
On exiting the entry point, one of the personnel was stationed to check the acknowledgement slip of all the travellers.
In Mawiong, a camp has been set up to verify the acknowledgement slip of the individuals travelling in the vehicles. However, on that particular morning, nobody was there to check the slips.
The driver of the cab informed that the acknowledgement slip issued at the entry point is verified there every day, but perhaps, since the mercury dips in the evening, no personnel were at the camp in Mawiong to verify the acknowledgement slips.
It may be recalled that the division bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Judge W Diengdoh had made the observation a few days ago after hearing a PIL challenging the constitutional validity of the entry-exit gates in the state.
The petitioners submitted that gates were set up at several points for checking people seeking entry to the state. They further submitted that without any objective parameters being set down for denying entry or regulating the movement of any citizen of the country in the state, “such check-posts may be impermissible and the exercise of authority thereat may be wholly arbitrary”.
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, on the other hand, had said that the entry-exit gate at Umling cannot be stopped as it also functions as a checking point for COVID-19 protocols and had maintained that necessary action would be taken as per the Court’s order.