Shillong, Aug 7: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has recently taken up with the Union Home Minister Amit Shah issues related to citizenship and visa matters affecting foreign-born clergy in the state.
A foreign-born father in Nongstoin had applied for citizenship, and the Chief Minister appealed to the Union Home Minister to consider his case.
“He (Union HM) has assured me to give upto a 10-year visa to the concerned father so that he does not have to renew it every year. He is about 80 years old. I have communicated this to the Archbishop as well as to the concerned people that this is the option and they are happy about it,” Sangma said.
“This is a good in a positive step because if that kind of an extended visa being given for five-ten years then it makes it easy for them,”he added.
The Chief Minister also discussed the upcoming visit of the Rector General (Global head) of Salesian to the state.
He said Salesian Sister have requested him to inform the MHA and External Affairs Ministry so that they can have smooth entry as they are coming purely for institutional programmes.
“In the past, there has been some incidents where some of the senior religious heads were not able to enter the country and so they were scared and worried if this kind of situation will happen again inspite of having the Visa. I gave the list of those dignataries that are coming in and Union Home Minister has assured me that he will personally look into that matter,” Sangma stated.
