Meghalaya must prove ILP readiness to Centre: Cabinet Minister

Shillong, Apr 5: Cabinet Minister Paul Lyngdoh, who also serves as the spokesperson for the Meghalaya Government, on Friday said that the State Government must address the concerns raised by the Centre and show that it is in a position to implement the Inner Line Permit (ILP) regime.

Speaking to the press, Lyngdoh mentioned that Chief Minister Conrad Sangma had recently met with Union Home Minister Amit Shah to discuss the matter.

"It is not that the Centre is against the idea of ILP per se, but they have raised a few queries, and these queries are important for us to address and to satisfy the Centre that we are in a position to actually implement the ILP once the Centre agrees to it," he stated.

"For instance, the issue of Meghalaya being a transit point has been flagged at several such meetings and as you are aware, we are also a transit point to States including Mizoram and Tripura apart from districts within Assam itself. So, the challenge is how to facilitate a system like the ILP with Meghalaya being a transit point to the point that the Union Home Minis- try has repeatedly made is that they felt we already have the Sixth Schedule and the Land Transfer Act in place and the ADCs, which also are Constitutionally mandated with a lot of laws. So, these were the concerns, and it is not the end of road for our State, but discussions and negotiations are ongoing, and our effort will be to persuade the Centre by responding to their queries satisfactorily," Lyngdoh added.

Meanwhile, the minister also hailed the Centre's decision to pass the Immigration and Foreigners Bill, 2025, which seeks to regulate immigration, entry, and stay of foreigners in India.

Terming it as a major development, Lyngdoh said, "It is certainly very welcoming for a State like Meghalaya, which shares a very long international border, which is also very porous and also we are next door to Assam, which is very prone to illegal immigration."

"It is going to change and in fact we have tightened our grip on illegal immigration and going by the current political situation in neighbouring Bangladesh, which is very volatile, we certainly need adequate steps to ensure that the State's demographic balance is not disturbed by the phenomenon of illegal immigration. So, we are thankful that the Government at the Centre is giving adequate attention to this matter," Lyngdoh added.

With inputs from NEWMAI news