Due to the sharp spike of Covid-19 cases in Meghalaya and the rest of the country, the State government has pledged to conduct strict checks of all those entering the state through the Umling checkpoint in Ri-Bhoi, including local vehicles.
While tourist taxis are stopped as a matter of course, along with private vehicles registered in other states, private cars and motorbikes with Meghalaya licence plates have allegedly slipped through with little effort to check the occupants. It has been suspected that many returnees to the state are picked up by local private vehicles in Byrnihat and then ferried past Umling without being checked for Covid-19. Returnees have made up a large chunk of the hundreds of new cases reported in the state this month.
On her inspection of the Umling checkpoint today, Ri-Bhoi Deputy Commissioner, RM Kurbah, said that now even local vehicles will have to stop at the facility and the occupants will have to produce identification to prove that they are locals.
“Anyone who does not follow the instructions of the security guard at the checkpoint will be detained and punished as per the relevant section of the law,” said Kurbah.
She also reminded visitors to the state who leave Meghalaya that they also have to register at the checkpoint upon exiting the state.
