SHILLONG, 14 Jul: Members of the Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC), a pressure group, staged a sudden protest at the main secretariat here on Friday, demanding implementation of inner line permit (ILP) regime to check the influx of outsiders, inclusion of the Khasi language, and deportation of illegal migrants.
The HYC’s sudden protest caused a huge traffic snarl in the area, forcing the state government to invite the leaders for talks.
Emerging after the talks with Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong, HYC general secretary Roykupar Synrem said that the protest was to demand the implementation of ILP in the state to check the influx of outsiders.
He said that the organisation, like most of the social organisations in the state, are apprehensive of the move of the state government to introduce railways into the state without weighing in the difficulties and the concerns of the local people.
“We wanted to send a clear message to the state government and the central government that HYC will not accept any proposal to bring in railways within the state unless there are specific provisions to check the entry and exit of people into the Khasi Hills region,” he told PTI.
“We also wanted to ask the resolution against ILP, the amendment bill of the state to check visitors coming into the state and on the demand to include the two languages in the 8th schedule of the Constitution of India,” he said.
The HYC general secretary said that the DCM informed that Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma will be leading a cabinet delegation to Delhi to follow up on the state assembly’s resolution on the matter soon.
The Khasi Students’ Union has also expressed opposition to the introduction of railways in the Khasi Jaintia Hills region in the absence of regulations to check the entry of outsiders into the state.
“We are reiterating our stand against railways until the government find ways to check the influx of outsiders into our state,” KSU general secretary Donald V Thabah told PTI.