Meghalaya panel on influx seeks labour certificates

The Cabinet sub-committee on influx has recommended a three-point formula to check illegal migrants from entering Meghalaya and permanently settling here. Committee chairman and Urban Affairs Minister Paul Lyngdoh submitted the recommendations to Chief Minister D D Lapang on Friday.

Lyngdoh said the recommendations were aimed at giving teeth to the existing Inter-State Migrant Workman (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1985. One of the provisions is that a worker coming into the state has to carry “labour authorisation certificates” from an authority of the level of Superintendent of Police or Additional District Magistrate of his district. This is to ensure that he is an Indian national and not an illegal immigrant.

The recommendations have also made it mandatory for local employers to obtain a licence before employing any outside labour. The licence will be issued for 179 days, renewable later. The idea is to ensure that the migrant labour doesn’t stay on indefinitely, acquiring voting rights in the state.