‘Meghalaya’s concerns over CAA addressed, ILP should be extended’

Shillong: Concerns of Meghalaya over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act have been addressed as most areas of the state come under the Sixth Schedule, which exempts them from the law, CM Conrad Sangma has said.
In an interview to PTI, Sangma, who heads the National People's Party (NPP), also stressed the requirement for the Inner Line Permit (ILP) regime in his state, which will restrict the entry of “outsiders”.
Expressing concern over the “spillover effect” in Meghalaya if CAA is implemented in other states, he said that “we have just requested the Government of India if we can still have the ILP”.
“There are enough provisions in the CAA right now to protect us in one way, apart from the cutoff date that they’ve put and apart from the fact that 99.9 per cent is exempted... All these points are there. But we have still raised our concerns with the Government of India, and we have also asked for the extension of the ILP or any other mechanism that will help us address those concerns,” he said.
“We have asked if the non-scheduled areas can also be exempted (from the law),” he said.
Asked about the CAA, which has faced opposition in the state that shares more than 400-km-long border with Bangladesh, Sangma said their concerns have been addressed as it excludes Schedule 6 areas.
“When the CAA had come out in the first draft, there was no provision of exemption for any state. After we raised the concern, we met the home minister, we met other leaders, then there was a revisit in the entire draft and they came up with a provision where Meghalaya and other areas with sixth schedule and ILP was exempted,” Sangma said .
“In every area in Meghalaya, except a few square metres in Shillong... small area which we call European ward, is the only area which is a non schedule area,” he added. PTI