To check illegal immigration in Meghalaya Chief Minister D. D. Lapang’s new weapon is ‘indentity card’. He wants the Central Government to issue identity cards to the people of Meghalaya to check the menace. In a memorandum, submitted to Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani. Mr. Lapang urged the Centre to do it quickly as illegal migration from Bangladesh is a threat to the demographic composition of the State. He fears that the problem may snowball into an Assam-like-situation in future. His other suggestion is the introduction of  ‘Work Permit for Foreigners’. He sees the hand of foreign agencies in the recent ethnic violence in Karbi Anglong, which had a spillover effect in Meghalaya. “In view of the gravity of the situation the Scheme should be introduced in Meghalaya with immediate effect. The State Government will render all necessary assistance,’’ Mr Lapang said. With a 425-km long international boundary with Bangladesh, most of which is porous, the agony of the Chief Minister is understandable. He virtually pleaded with the Centre to include Meghalaya in the proposed Identity Card Scheme, which the Centre will introduce in few districts of some states soon. Mr. Lapang also urged the Deputy Prime Minister to fence the entire Indo-Bangla border along Meghalaya. Only 195 km of the border has been fenced so far. Expressing his inability to prevent infiltration from across the border, the Chief Minister said “Inspite of our best efforts illegal immigration into Meghalaya has been going on and there is very little that we can do to identify such illegal immigrants without a proper identification system.’’

“One of main problems of Meghalaya has been the influx of outsiders and foreign nationals into the State which tends to alter the demographic composition of the population... a section of the indigenous people has taken a strong stand against the illegal migrants which threaten their identity,” Mr. Lapang says stressing the gravity of the situation. He informed that during the last three years the State Government has detected 10, 571 Bangladeshis. Indigenous tribal population constitutes 80 per cent of the total population of Meghalaya. It is not that the Centre is not aware of the grave situation. The Group of Ministers on border management has already recommended compulsory registration for citizens and non-citizens in the country. The committee felt that would facilitate the preparation of National Register of Citizens. It had recommended that all citizens should be issued Multi-purpose National Identity Cards and non-citizens should be issued identity cards of a different colour and design. The recommendations were endorsed in the Chief Ministers’ conference on Internal Security in 2001 and 2003. On its part, the Centre has agreed to meet the full cost of the scheme in principle.  

Mr. Lapang is not pleased the way the fencing work at the international border is going on. ‘’Citizens residing in the border areas are facing many problems due to the present system of fencing which is 150 yards away from the Zero Line. Hundreds of acres of cultivable land behind the fence has been rendered as no-mans land. Fencing should coincide with the Zero Line,’’ the Chief Minister asserted. It may be noted here that the Group of Ministers on border management recommended shifting of villages located outside fence into Indian territory. Mr. Lapang has few more demands. The memorandum sought an increase in the present strength of the Border Security Force (BSF) deployed in Meghalaya and creationof three Battalion Headquarters of the force, one each at Jaintia Hills District, East Khasi Hills District and West Khasi Hills in South Garo Hills District. There is already one Battalion Headquarters in the State in Tura.   ‘’Presently five battalions of BSF are deployed to guard the international boundary and two more have been recently posted. However, our experience has been that effective strength of BSF personnel along the border does not exceed three battalions,’’ the Chief Minister said.

Mr Lapang also urged the Deputy Prime Minister to bear the initial cost of land for raising the three Indian Reserve Battalions (IRB) in the state with one time grant of Rs 12 crore as a special case. The Centre recently sanctioned the three battalions of IRB for Meghalaya. ’’To raise three IRBs, the state government requires 600 acres of land, which would cost Rs 12 crore. Presently we are facing financial constraints and we have not been able to acquire the land even for the previous two battalions,’’ the Chief Minister said. In Meghalaya there is no government land except for a few acres of land comprising three wards of the Shillong Municipality and those belong either to private individuals or are community lands.

The Meghalaya government also requested the Centre to increase the outlay for the state under the Scheme of Modernisation of Police Forces.

In the current fiscal Meghalaya’s outlay is Rs 11 crore, which is an increase of only Rs 63 lakhs from last year. ’’Militant groups in the state like Achik National Volunteers Council and problems created by Assam’s Kuki National Volunteers and United People’s Democratic Solidarity in Jaintia Hills district and United Liberation Front of Asom and National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) in the Garo Hills have necessiated urgent upgradation of arms and ammunitions, mobility and communication facilities,’’ the Chief Minister pointed out. The existing funding pattern for Meghalaya between Centre and State is 75:25 but the state government demanded that the Centre provides 100 per cent funds, as it is facing serious financial constraint. The memorandum also listed the equipment and weapons including AK-47, bullet proof jackets and trucks as part of the mordernisation drive.
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