SHILLONG, FEB 18: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma informed the Assembly on Wednesday that the government is examining a proposal to declare Meghalaya a protected/restricted area under the Immigration and Foreigners’ Act, 2025, before engaging with stakeholders.
According to him, the aim is to establish a system requiring foreigners to obtain a permit before entering Meghalaya.
Responding to Leader of Opposition Mukul Sangma’s query on how this would help, Conrad said, “Technology exists and technology is a big facilitator of ensuring we have mechanisms that will help us. We are still processing this issue. We are aware that there are many genuine foreigners coming, if we do this what will be the impact to tourism.”
He emphasized that consultations with civil society, tour operators, and political parties would follow after discussions with the Ministry of Home Affairs and technological preparations.
“We are not yet ready but since the question was asked, I was forced to give this reply. We are examining, we are working on it, we are doing our homework and only then we will start our consultation with the stakeholders,” he added.
The Chief Minister clarified that the aim was to establish entry-exit points for checking, saying, “Right now the bone of contention and what people are concerned about is entry-exit points, we want a point where people can be checked if necessary – that is really what the purpose is.”
Addressing concerns about the Sixth Schedule, he stated, “The issue of Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India…does not arise. The purpose is to have a proper monitoring system for illegal immigration… ILP is one way of having such a mechanism in place, we feel that the Immigration and Foreigners Act is another way in which we can create such a mechanism.”
