Shillong, Aug 7: A committee will be constituted by the United Democratic Party (UDP) to conduct a detailed study on the problem of influx and illegal immigration in Meghalaya and come up with realistic, practical and comprehensive mechanisms to deal with it.

This decision was taken by the UDP at its Central Executive Committee (CEC) meeting here on Tuesday.

The UDP is an ally of the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government being led by the NPP.

UDP general secretary Jemino Mawthoh told reporters that the CEC decided that a committee should be formed to conduct an in-depth study and suggest strong mechanisms to deal with the problem of influx and illegal immigration in the state.

“There there have been a lot of apprehensions especially after the final draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) was published in Assam. We want to come up with mechanisms which are realistic, practical and comprehensive in order safeguard the people of the state and control the problem. The committee will seek views and opinions from party workers and other stakeholders before submitting a proposal to the government on this issue,” he said.

He said that the CEC also decided to take up the issue with all partners of the MDA government and apprise them of the situation and take a call in as far as the NRC update is concerned.

On the UDP’s stand to implement Inner Line Permit (ILP) system in Meghalaya, Mawthoh said that the party has not discussed the merits and demerits of the ILP, but the committee would also discuss and suggest the best mechanism which may be better than the ILP “since the state is yet to have any effective mechanism in place.”