By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, March 27: Lok Sabha MP from Tura, Saleng A. Sangma, has urged both the state and the central governments to take serious note of the exploitation of youths from Meghalaya.
Sangma informed that he has written to the Centre, seeking intervention and safeguards for those migrating in search of employment.
Raising concern over the growing trend, Sangma said the situation remains “precarious”, with both educated and uneducated youths struggling with unemployment and increasingly falling prey to deceptive job offers.
“People are uneducated, unemployed… educated or not educated, everybody is desperate for jobs,” he said, adding that misleading advertisements and offers from outside often lure young people into unsafe environments.
He said many youths end up being trapped after leaving the state. “At the end, they are being trapped. There’s a lot of entrapment that is happening, not only within the state, even outside the state also,” he stated.
The MP also flagged the rise of dubious institutions operating under the pretext of providing employment. He claimed that some such entities are functioning with minimal infrastructure. “It’s like… in Meghalaya, you can open up a university with two to three classrooms. This is what is happening,” he said.
Referring to the recent incidents, Sangma said there have been cases where underage Khasi youths were allegedly made to work in establishments involved in illegal activities, including flesh trade.
He added that youths from the region often face discrimination and mistreatment outside the state.
“Lots of our youths are being mistreated; they are being discriminated in every way,” he said, noting that while some individuals have been rescued, many others remain unaccounted for.
Raising alarm over cases of missing persons, he said that some youths who travel outside the state go missing under unclear circumstances. “Our people are missing when they are going outside… whether their organs are being harvested, we don’t know. Some of them are killed,” he said, citing recent incidents involving people from the Northeast.
Sangma reiterated the need for coordinated action and safeguards to protect vulnerable youths seeking employment outside the state.
