Shillong, June 24: The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) has strongly opposed a reported government move to turn the area of ‘facilitation centre’ at Umling in Ri-Bhoi district into a commercial zone featuring food court.
The KSU said the decision would dilute the state’s anti-influx mechanism.
Citing media report about the government plans to lease the site to food chains like KFC, Starbucks, Subway and others, KSU general secretary Reuben A Najiar on Wednesday said, “The Union does not oppose such food companies setting up in the state, but not at the facilitation centre.”
The facility at Umling was set up under the Meghalaya Residents Safety & Security Act (MRSSA), 2016 to record and monitor movement of people entering Meghalaya from other states.
The KSU leader recalled that MRSSA was enacted after KSU’s large-scale ILP agitation in 2013-14, when the then Mukul Sangma-led government pledged “comprehensive mechanisms” to regulate illegal entry while the ILP demand remained pending with the Centre.
He noted that while MRSSA falls short of ILP in protecting indigenous communities, it provides for entry/exit points akin to ILP and was meant to be a precursor until a stronger law was in place.
He warned that without effective checks, Meghalaya could face a demographic shift similar to Tripura, where the Tripuris were reduced to a minority.
The Union stressed that with deportation drives in Assam and West Bengal, Meghalaya risks becoming a transit and settlement point for those displaced.
Functional facilitation centres are also critical, Najiar said, to curb drug trafficking and strengthen overall border management.
Through the statement, KSU “strongly warns the government not to convert the facilitation centre into a food court and to implement the MRSSA, 2016 immediately….”
