KSU vows to continue drive against labourers

SHILLONG, July 21: The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) on Sunday said while the state government examines various mechanisms to check illegal migration, it will continue with its drive against migrant labourers and “illegal immigrants”.
The KSU said it detected over 2,500 migrant workers who failed to prove their Indian nationality. The union said the persons were found not possessing EPIC, PAN or Aadhaar cards.
“The state government has said that ILP is still under the examination of the central government. If all these mechanisms such as MRSSA and ILP are under examination, then what kind of mechanism should we implement? We will adopt some strategy to assist the state government,” KSU president Lambokstar Marngar told reporters.
He said the KSU will keep checking the documents of migrant workers and pressuring the state government to implement MRSSA.
Recently, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma had stated that the Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979 does not have any provisions for work permits, but it has a provision for registration of labourers by the contractors or by the employers if they are five or more and going to come to the state from outside.
Marngar said, “Work permit is a short form there. There was an amendment to the Meghalaya Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Condition of Service) Rules in 2011. Just to call a work permit an easy name does not matter; the function and implementation of that existing law is more important.”
Reminding that the KSU has already asked the state government to implement the existing laws of the state in letter and spirit, he said, “The CM said they will examine. Let the government continue to examine and we will continue to check”.
The much-anticipated July 19 talks between the leaders of the KSU and Sangma on the checking of labourers and “illegal immigrants” failed.
While Sangma pointed out that no one can legally check the documents of the labourers and as such, 10 cases were filed against individuals and pressure groups, the KSU vowed to continue with their drive.