Cabinet minister Paul Lyngdoh today agreed with the stand of Chief Minister Conrad Sangma that there is no work permit system in Meghalaya.
Speaking to media persons here, Lyngdoh said that all confusion on the issue including the system related to migrant labourers will figure prominently during the meeting between Chief Minister Conrad Sangma and KSU leaders tomorrow.
According to Lyngdoh, Meghalaya has a registration system whereby migrant labourers are registered under the Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979 which the NGOs referred to as work permit.
“The chief minister is also right in the sense that we do not call this as work permit as it is a registration of labourers which are maintained by the Labour Department. I think it is just a confusion about the name but the system works out all the same. Anybody working for a period of 179 days is registered as a labourer. If he crosses that period he has to re-register himself or exit from the state. That is very clear,” Lyngdoh said.
He also said that under the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act the onus is on the employer or contractor to get the labourers registered.
Lyngdoh said the boom in tourism in the State has pushed many people to construct home-stays, hotels etc.
“For such constructions basically you need labourers. The demand is such that we are not in a position to supply. There is a mismatch between demand and supply. That is why this attracts migration of labourers from other states. But the migration has to be within a legal ambit,” he added.
Questioning the claim by unemployed people of not getting a job to work in the State, Lyngdoh said, “It is ironic that those same unemployed persons are not willing to join the workforce as labourers.”
Lyngdoh also said that the reforms under the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act were something that he had pushed for during his tenure as labour minister in 2010. “If at all there is any lacuna, it could be the lack of manpower. These are issues that can be addressed,” he said.
He also urged the pressure groups in the State including the KSU to work together with the State government in dealing with the issue of influx.
“We have to fight in tandem. It should not be the government versus NGOs of Meghalaya. Rather it should be the government of Meghalaya and the NGOs of Meghalaya working in tandem towards finding a lasting solution and to take the resolution passed by the State Assembly to its logical end,” Lyngdoh said.
Conrad invites KSU for talks today
Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has invited the KSU and other pressure groups for talks tomorrow on the issue of migrant labourers.
The meeting came in the wake of the ongoing drives by KSU and other organisations to inspect vehicles and construction sites and verify documents of migrant workers across the Khasi-Jaintia region.
The KSU had claimed that over 2500 migrant workers, who allegedly failed to produce valid documents, were detected and pushed back from the State during its ongoing checking drive held in the last 12 days.
According to the letter sent to KSU general secretary Donald V. Thabah today, the meeting will be held at the office chamber of the chief minister at 12 pm.
Meanwhile, East Khasi Hills district police have registered six FIRs in connection with the raids conducted by KSU and other pressure groups against migrant labourers.
Notices have also been sent to leaders of KSU and other pressure groups under Section 35 (3) of Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) asking them to appear before police to explain the reasons for such raids at construction sites and unauthorised inspection of vehicles.
