House Committee set up to study illegal immigration
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, August 07 2024: The State Assembly has constituted a 12-member House Committee to address the issue of illegal immigrants.

Announced by the Speaker, Th Satyabrata, during 6th session today, the Committee will investigate and look into the influx of illegal immigrants into Manipur, unnatural increase in number of villages, detect immigrants, identify and repatriate them.

The Committee will be headed by Awangbow Newmai, Water Resources Minister as the Chairman.

Other members include Tribal Affairs Minister Letpao Haokip, CAF&PD Minister L Susindro, Education Minister Th Basanta Kumar, HAC Chairman Dinganglung Gangmei, and MLAs including K Meghachandra, Th Lokeshwar, Md Abdul Nasir, K Leishiyo, Surjakumar Okram, Kh Ibomcha and Th Shanti.

House Committee set up to study illegal immigration

The Committee will submit its report to the House within 3 months.

Immediately after the announcement, Congress MLA Th Lokeshwar appreciated the constitution of the Committee but asked the Speaker if the Tribal Affairs Minister, Letpao Haokip can be replaced as a member of the committee by another Member of the Assembly.

The inclusion of a Minister who has been absent from all sittings of the Assembly since May last year may affect the committee's effectiveness, hinted MLA Th Lokeshwar.

Notably, none of the 10 MLA of the Kuki community including Letpao Haokip attended the Assembly session.

The 10 MLAs have stayed away from all sittings of the Assembly since violence broke out in Manipur on May 3, 2023 .

Moreover, members of Naga community and several civil society organisations have repeatedly urged the Chief Minister and the Government to replace Letpao Haokip as the Tribal Affairs Minister citing his absence from office.

During the sitting today, MLA Th Lokeshwar said the inclusion of Letpao Haokip as a Member of the House Committee may hinder its functioning and effectiveness.

The House Committee has been tasked to submit its report within 3 months.

It would be very difficult for the Minister (Letpao) to meet other Members [amid the unrest], and considering the urgency of the matter, his membership may hinder the committee's function, said MLA Th Lokeshwar, asking if Letpao can be replaced by another Member of the House for smooth functioning.

Responding to the proposal, Speaker Th Satya- brata said the Minister was included as a member of the Committee with consensus.

Notably, the House Committee was formed after Chief Minister N Biren Singh proposed it yesterday in the Assembly.

The Chief Minister was responding to a call attention motion raised by MLA K Leishiyo when he made the proposal.

The House unanimously adopted the proposal and its formation was announced today.

It may be noted here that Letpao Haokip was the head of a Cabinet Sub-committee that carried out a drive to identify illegal immigrants in 2023 before the May 3 violence.

The Cabinet Sub-committee, in its initial findings submitted to the State Government on April 24, 2023, said it had identified 2,187 illegal immigrants in 41 locations.

In drives carried out in 13 villages in Tengnoupal district, the Cabinet Sub-committee detected as many as 1147 illegal immigrants.

In 3 villages in Chandel, it detected 881 illegal immigrants.

In 1 village in Churachandpur, it detected 154 illegal immigrants.

In 24 villages Kamjong, it detected 5 illegal immigrants.

While the districts have several hundreds of villages, the drive covered only 41 villages/locations.

The influx of illegal immigrants into Manipur through porous Indo-Myanmar border and unnatural increase in the number of population and villages in some districts in the hills have been identified as factors that are fuelling the current clash between Meiteis and Kukis.