Led by Nongkrem MLA Bah Ardent M Basaiawmoit, the VPP has made significant inroads across several constituencies, challenging traditional powerhouses.
SHILLONG, April 23: The Voice of the People Party (VPP) today said that Meghalaya, unlike the neighbouring State of Assam, lacks credible data on the possible presence of illegal immigrants in the State.
The president of VPP, Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit, said: "On the illegal immigrants' issue, there is neither any record nor estimate in Meghalaya. On the other hand, the Assam Government has presented the estimates both in Parliament and in the State Assembly."
He was addressing media persons after a protest rally against the NPP-led MDA Government for its alleged failure on several fronts at Motphran here.
Basaiawmoit said that the BJP raised the issue of illegal migrants in Assam in Parliament as well as the Assembly and concluded that there was a rising trend of influx of illegal immigrants into that State.
"From 33 lakh in 1993, the number (of immigrants) rose to 40 lakh in 1997 and 50 lakh in 2001. The figure rose to 80 lakh in 2016. It shows that the Government of Assam has carried out an exercise to detect and locate these illegal immigrants," the VPP chief said.
Lashing out at the NPP-led Meghalaya Government, he said that it has not done its work to find illegal immigrants in the State.
"The Meghalaya Government must carry out a foolproof exercise to detect illegal immigrants, who should not be included in the upcoming Census. They must be detected and deported," he added.
Expressing his apprehensions, Basaiawmoit said that the presence of a large number of illegal immigrants in Assam could have repercussions for Meghalaya as these dubious people were likely to enter the hill State.
The VPP president stated that a Special Intensive Revision is one exercise to filter out such citizens. But he demanded that the Meghalaya Government should formulate its own policy to weed out illegal immigrants from the voters list.
The VPP also announced its plan to march to the State Secretariat after completing a series of district-level awareness meetings on its ten-point charter of demands.
These demands include introducing an Inner Line Permit (ILP)-type regime, greater control over land ownership and transfer, transparency and accountability in governance, and addressing corruption, in addition to the illegal immigrants issue.
By
Staff Correspondent