Shillong, Jul 30: The Hynñiewtrep Youths Council (HYC) has taken strong exception to recent statements made by cabinet ministers and legislators that the Meghalaya Residents’ Safety and Security Act (MRSSA) 2016, is good enough to control influx.
“We have seen statements made by AL Hek, Minister in the government of Meghalaya, that MRSSA is a good mechanism and it can control influx and we fail to understand as to how MRSSA can check or regulate movement of people into the state when the act itself does not specify anywhere that it is meant for checking influx,” HYC president Roy Kupar Synrem said.
Synrem requested Hek and all those who are in favour of MRSSA to read the act and the orders of the High Court of Meghalaya especially when the legislation itself was challenged regarding the establishment of so-called facilitation centres under Sections 17 and 18 of the act.
The HYC president pointed out that the state government, while submitting a report before the High Court, stated that these centres were established only for verification of tenants and weeding out any known anti-social elements and wanted criminals.
He pointed out that later, vide notification dated December 7, 2021, the state government handed over the facilitation centres in Umling, Umroi Airport and Mendipathar railway station to the Health and Family Welfare Department for use as Covid-19 screening centres.
“As such these centres were used only for screening persons entering the state as to whether they were afflicted with Covid-19 or not. As to the fate of these facilities at present, it is known to all that after the pandemic subsided, these centres were left unused by the government and served no purpose at all,” Synrem stated.
He pointed out that the MRSSA 2016 is just another tenancy act, which is applicable to all residents of the state and will not ever serve as a mechanism to control or regulate influx of people into Meghalaya.
He said that to say otherwise is nothing but an attempt to mislead the indigenous people of the state who have for a longtime demanded for implementation of laws like ILP.
The HYC president stated that the HYC is clear that MRSSA 2016 is a toothless law in the absence of specific provisions to regulate influx into the state and demanded that the government and all the MLAs take urgent and proactive steps to ensure that the resolution passed by the Assembly on December 19, 2019 for implementation of ILP system in Meghalaya is accepted by the centre at the earliest.
