Members of pressure groups in Meghalaya demanding the implementation of the British-era Inner Line Permit (ILP) system continue to assault migrant workers, threatening to stall several development projects across the State.
Officials of the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) said some youths wearing masks and helmets assaulted six labourers engaged in the maintenance of the Shillong-Umiam Road at Mawiong near the State’s capital Shillong on July 12.
A critically injured worker was rushed to a hospital in Guwahati for treatment, they said. “All the labourers are refusing to work in Meghalaya after the assault,” an NHIDCL official involved with road projects in Meghalaya said.
The NHIDCL lodged a First Information Report at the local police station and wrote to the Deputy Commissioner of the East Khasi Hills district seeking action against the assailants, and a safe environment for the project workers to execute their assignments.
The police said some Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) leaders were summoned to a police station in Shillong in connection with the organisation’s drives to check the “work permits” of non-tribal people and migrant labourers.
The KSU leaders struck a defiant note, asserting that its members would continue to “do the government’s job” if the ILP and the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act passed in 2020 were not implemented. The union claims these mechanisms would check the inflow of “illegal immigrants”, and protect indigenous communities. Union members also set up a temporary “ILP check gate” on an arterial highway in the State’s Ri-Bhoi district a few days ago to drive home their point.
The ILP is a temporary travel document currently needed for Indians to enter Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, and Nagaland. It is based on the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation of 1873.
Members of the KSU and other organisations were earlier accused of assaulting migrant workers in the Laitumkhrah and Polo areas of Shillong. One of those assaulted in the Polo area was a technician brought from New Delhi for specialised work at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium ahead of the Durand Cup football in August.
Some non-tribal workers were also bludgeoned to death. There were at least three such cases in the East Khasi Hills district between March and April.
Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma, criticised by rights organisations for going “soft” on the violent pressure groups, said the government has been dealing firmly with those creating law and order problems.
“There is no such thing as a work permit and nobody is authorised to check the documents of labourers except for the appropriate authorities. There is a process for the Labour Department to register the workers for their safety and to maintain records,” he said.
