SHILLONG, JULY 18: United Democratic Party (UDP) leader and cabinet minister Paul Lyngdoh said the state government and NGOs should work together to ensure the resolution on the inner line permit (ILP) passed by the state Assembly is taken to its logical end.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Lyngdoh informed that the government has decided to invite the NGOs for talks following the ongoing checking of documents of migrant workers.
“The chief minister will convene a meeting with all the NGOs to address the various issues and concerns. I am optimistic that something tangible, substantive and fruitful will emerge from that discussion,” he said.
Lyngdoh, who is also MDA spokesperson, said in the fight to get ILP, it should not be government of Meghalaya versus NGOs of Meghalaya.
“Rather it should be government of Meghalaya and the NGOs of Meghalaya in tandem working towards finding a lasting solution and to take the resolution adopted by the state Assembly to its logical end,” he added.
Asked, Lyngdoh said the bulk of migration that is happening is that of labourers and it is happening because we on our own as residents of Meghalaya are not able to supply the demand for labour.
“There is a mismatch between demand and supply and hence we have migrant workers but also please keep in mind that the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act and the Rules thereunder are in existence. In fact, they were enforced when I was minister incharge of labour and I had pushed for those reforms and today what we have is actually a system of registered labourers. And if at all there is any lacunae, it could be the lack of manpower/workforce these are issues that can be addressed, I don’t see any major problem in there,” he stated.
Lyngdoh said that what the NGOs are referring to as “work permit” is a system where labourers are registered under the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act while reacting to question raised against the chief minister’s statement that “there is no work permit in Meghalaya”.
“It is just confusion about the name. We have a registration process, a system whereby labourers are registered under the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act and that is a system which the NGOs referred to as work permit but the Chief Minister is also right as we do not actually call these as work permit because these are registration of labourers, which are maintained by the labour department. I think it is just confusion about the name but the system works out all the same. Anybody working for a period of 179 days is issued and registered as a labourer but if he crosses that period he has to re-register himself or exit from the state, that’s very clear,” he clarified.
Asked, the UDP leader said, “We had just completed the process of electing a new MP and the stand of the VPP, which won the election by a landslide margin is in favour of the ILP so that is the voice of the people of Meghalaya and that voice has to be respected.”