Group warns of ‘alarming’ spillover of migrants after Assam crackdown
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Nov 23: The North East Students’ Organisation (NESO) has accused the Meghalaya government and the three autonomous district councils of remaining largely inactive on the issue of illegal infiltration, even as neighbouring Assam steps up its eviction drives and pushes suspected infiltrators towards the state’s porous borders.
Speaking to reporters, NESO chairman Samuel B. Jyrwa said both his organisation and the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) have repeatedly warned the state about the growing threat, but little concrete action has followed.
“Assam is taking very strong and proactive measures against illegal infiltrators. The Prime Minister himself, in his Independence Day speech, called them intruders who must be dealt with firmly. The Ministry of Home Affairs has issued clear directives to all states. Yet in Meghalaya, we are not seeing anything substantial on the ground,” Jyrwa said.
He warned that Assam’s aggressive campaign is turning Meghalaya into the “nearest and easiest” fallback destination for those being evicted.
“Both the interstate boundary and the international border with Bangladesh need strict, round-the-clock vigilance right now,” he stressed.
Although NESO currently has no confirmed inputs of illegal settlers establishing new bases within Meghalaya, Jyrwa pointed to the recent action by the KSU’s Laban Circle, where numerous illegal settlers were reportedly found renting accommodation.
Jyrwa described this as “alarming” and stressed that the issue of infiltration requires all stakeholders to come together and work out a collective solution.
The NESO chairman was particularly critical of the autonomous district councils. “The ADCs have not taken any proactive steps on this issue. Infiltration is not just a state subject; it falls squarely within the mandate of the district councils as well,” he said.
With civic bodies and pressure groups renewing their demands for a full check on illegal influx, the spotlight is back on the state government and the three ADCs to prove that Meghalaya is not leaving its borders undefended at a time when demographic pressures in the region have been intensifying.
