Meghalaya to step up ILP movement
Source: The Sangai Express
Shillong, August 08, 2013:
In their continued campaign for speedy implementation of the Inner Line Permit (ILP) in the state, Meghalaya's pressure groups on Thursday said that they would hold a public meeting and a rally to Main Secretariat on August 16, to pressurize the government on the issue.
The decision was taken at the meeting of the ten pressure groups including the KSU, FKJGP, GSU, HNYF, RBYF, JYF, JSU, AJYWO, CSWO from across the state held at the KSU's office in Jaiaw here on Thursday.
The proposed public meeting will be held at Motphran.
Earlier, the public meetings of the ten pressure groups were held in the seven districts of Khasi and Jaintia hills and districts of Garo hills region with an aim to enlighten and garner public support on the issue.
"The public meeting to be held on August 16, will be the deciding day for the pressure groups' future course of actions if the state government remains indifferent towards implementing the ILP in the state," KSU president Daniel Khyriem told reporters after the meeting here.
He said, "The public meeting will be followed by a rally from Motphran to main secretariat as a move to protest against the inability of the state government to implement the ILP".
According to him, the pressure groups are demanding the state government to immediately implement the recommendations made by the High Level Committee on Influx (HLCI) headed by then deputy chief minister Bindo M Lanong.
Mentionably, the Lanong committee which submitted its report last year has recommended the state government for the implementation of ILP in the state.
FKJGP president Joe Marwein added, "We will announce our programme of agitations at the public meeting to be held on August 16, if government fails to pay heed to our demand".
He informed that the pressure groups have been able to garner good public response from the earlier meetings held in the different districts of the state.
Meanwhile, Khyriem accused the state government of taking advantage of the silence of the pressure groups.
"Being silent on the issue has been mistakenly taken as our weakness by the state government," he said adding "But government is wrong to think that we are weak".
"We are ready to intensify stern agitational programmes against the government unwillingness to implement the ILP," he asserted.