Parallel Administration Running in Meghalaya?

Despite CM Conrad Sangma urging pressure groups not to take law in their own hands, members of these groups are stopping outside vehicles and checking papers of migrant workers

Is there a parallel administration running in Meghalaya? It appears so because pressure groups have defied the government and intensified their drive against workers from outside the state, stopping even tourist vehicles coming from Assam.

Vehicles from Assam going towards Dawki and Cherrapunji were stopped at Umtyngar Junction by volunteers belonging to the Hyniewtrep National Youth Front (HNYF) today and were asked to turn back.
It was the prompt intervention by East Khasi Hills Police that prevented the situation from escalating further. Some of the members of the pressure group were picked up by the police and taken to the Sadar Police Station.

The situation is said to be normal.

Scores of volunteers belonging to pressure groups Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) and Federation of Khasi Jaintia and Garo People (FKJGP) have been out on the streets physically stopping non-Meghalaya vehicles and asking them to return back.

The pressure groups have been checking work permits of migrant workers and putting up check gates to stop the influx of outside workers.

The situation is volatile as a petrol bomb was hurled yesterday morning at a residence rented out to some non-tribals.

There is a broader agitation going on demanding extension of Inner Line Permit (ILP) as in Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh and the current agitation against migrant workers is seen by some as an extension of the broad agitation demanding security for the locals in jobs sector and maintain the demographic balance.

Organisations like the Khasi Students Union earlier had a meeting with Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, where the Chief Minister said nobody should take law in their own hands however these activities in the streets of Shillong and its vicinity speaks otherwise.

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