Manipur Visitors Regulation Bill to be introduced
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, February 09 2015:
The Manipur Visitors Regulation Bill, 2015 will be introduced in the ensuing session of 10th Manipur Legislative Assembly commencing from February 25 .
According to a highly placed official source, the Manipur Visitors Regulation Bill has been framed in accordance to the report submitted by All Political Party Committee on Inner Line Permit System.
The bill is expected to have certain provisions for protection of indigenous Meetei and Meetei Pangal communities besides the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes of the State.
The official source further said that Manipur's population constitutes only around 0.24 percent of the total population of India while the population of Meetei and Meetei Pangal is only 0.09 percent of the total population of India.
The Meetei and Meetei Pangal are considered as microscopic minorities who should be given protection just like the SC and ST people.
However, the bill will not include any recommendation for declaring Manipur as a hill state.
The State Government has learnt that Manipur is already notified as a "hill state" in the Gazette.
It may be recalled that the Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit System (JCILPS) along with other civil society organizations of the State have been demanding the implementation of Inner Line Permit System to check unrestrained influx of migrants to the State.
The CSOs have also been conducting verification drives in various parts of the State to sort out non-locals possessing fake identification documents.