By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Jan 20: VPP Supremo Ardent M Basaiawmoit on Tuesday said the people have been ‘misled’ through what he described as a modified version of the Inner Line Permit (ILP), followed by the introduction of the Meghalaya Residents’ Safety and Security Act (MRSSA), and now the implementation of the Immigrants & Foreigners’ Act (I&FA).
Laws such as the I&FA and the MRSSA cannot be equated or even compared with the ILP, Basaiawmoit said, while asserting that each law serves a fundamentally different purpose.
This comes at a time when the MDA Government has decided to invite all stakeholders, including political parties and civil society organisations (CSOs), to discuss its proposal for introduction of an Inner Line Permit (ILP)-like provision in the new Immigration and Foreigners Act 2025, aimed at addressing the issue of influx and illegal immigration.
He explained that the MRSSA is a law that requires house owners to inform the government about tenants, which, in effect, comes into play only after people from outside the state have already found accommodation.
He further stated that the I&FA is a law of the Government of India meant for people coming from outside the country. According to him, it is not a new law, but merely a restructured version of older existing laws.
Basaiawmoit clarified that the ILP is fundamentally different, as it is a regulatory mechanism that operates before a person is allowed to enter the state. “The ILP is a law that applies even before people are permitted to enter the state,” he said.
He maintained that, for this reason, the MRSSA and the I&FA cannot be treated as substitutes for the ILP, nor can they be aligned or made comparable to it in any manner.
