SHILLONG: Chief Minister, Conrad Sangma on Wednesday said that the Meghalaya Residents’ Safety and Security Bill would act as a law under which the Government would have a registration of people who enter the stay here
Talking to media persons after an all-party meeting to discuss about the contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Bill and the proposed amendment to the sixth schedule of the constitution, Chief Minister, Conrad Sangma said that the Act would regulate the entry and exit of the people and it would allow the Government to monitor the situation and ensure the safety of the state and the individuals who come to the state.
When asked about the Opposition’s demand for immediate implementation of the Residents’ Act, Sangma said that the amendment and implementation of the Act was a process and it couldn’t be done just with the press of a button
“We require different mechanisms and task force need to be put in place,” he said even as he added that it required coordination.
“At the same we feel that while this process is on, we need to amend the Act in a manner which will give more teeth to it,” Sangma said while reiterating that the Government wanted to ensure that the amended Act keeps the interest of the people in minds, takes care of constitutional amendment and ensuring minimum inconvenience to the people visiting the state.
Reacting to a query, he said that in facilitation centres, Government would facilitate the entry and exit of the people and it would be one mechanism to regulate the entry of people and there would be other mechanisms as well.
When asked about the construction work of the facilitation centres in the state, the Chief Minister said that a lot of work was taking place now even thought things were very slow in the last 4-5 years.
“In last 7-8 months, things have moved fast and even the entry and exit point at Mendipathar Railway station is under construction and we just hope that things would move faster,” he said.
Sangma also informed that all the political parties including the Congress were positive about the amendments in the Residents’ Act and Government would incorporate their comment and opinion in the Bill.
