Following the recent violence in Bangladesh, which resulted in hundreds of Indian students, including dozens from Meghalaya fleeing the neighbouring country, the state cabinet has approved a portal for the registration of working professionals and students from the state living abroad to make any future evacuation process smoother and faster.
Indian citizens abroad are already requested to register themselves with the nearest Indian embassy or consular office but this is not mandatory and most do not until an emergency strikes.
“This is a very important move on the part of the state government as recently, because of the violent incidents in Bangladesh, a number of Meghalayans had to flee that country. Things were chaotic because we did not have a database of Meghalayans residing or travelling in Bangladesh,” said cabinet minister and government spokesperson Paul Lyngdoh today.
The registration will be possible through an existing government website, meghalayaone.gov.in.
“After the office memorandum is signed and notified, the portal for registration will be online. The registration is not compulsory, as we cannot [make] people register but once you register we will have a database of who is in which country and which students are studying in which country,” senior civil servant CVD Diengdoh added.
He also made it clear that the database will be strictly confidential and not accessible by the public.
“It will be utilised on a need-only basis, especially during emergencies,” Diengdoh added.
