SHILLONG: The Achik Indigenous Justice Initiative Forum (AIJIF), an NGO, has petitioned the Prime Minister demanding that the BOP gates be sealed and fenced to stop influx of migrants into the Garo Hills region.
Forum director, Alex Sangma, said in the petition the plain areas in the region have recorded high infiltration because the government has not done anything to check it.
Blaming the incomplete fencing along the border for the recent rise in encroachment and number of illegal immigrants, Sangma said despite the Government sanctioning so many border outposts (BOPs) and fencing the border, it is becoming vulnerable to infiltration.
The NGO said cattle smuggling from Assam via Garo Hills to Bangladesh is on the rise.
It pointed out that another factor contributing to illegal immigration is contract workers in Meghalaya and the northeastern states.
Contractors employ illegal immigrants as casual labourers at low wages.
“Contractors must be made liable for the labour employed by them. Laws need to be made which focus on employer sanctions’ enforcement,” the NGO said.
