Meghalaya CM bats for National Population Register

Shillong, March 17 (IANS) Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma on Friday batted for registration of Indian citizens under the National Population Register to check illegal immigrants residing in India.

"It is an irony that this country of 1.25 billion does not have a citizen register. Then we are talking about dealing with illegal immigration," Sangma told the assembly.

Stressing the need to have the national register of Indian citizens, the Chief Minister said: "We have to have a National Population Register which will provide us a classification of categories who are part of the population that will eventually help us to register Indian citizens."

Earlier, Home Minister Horju Donkupar Roy Lyngdoh informed the legislators that the State government will not implement the proposed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill which would grant Indian citizenship to persecuted Hindus in other countries.

Lyngdoh was replying to a query raised by HSPDP legislator that the proposed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill threatened the indigenous people of the state.

"We don't want the government to deal this issue in a casual way but to deal the matter with utmost seriousness as there is already lot of protest against the intention of the central government as far as this Citizenship Bill," Basaiawmoit said.

To another query, Lyngdoh informed the House that the Assam government had sent documents to the Meghalaya government to verify the details of persons for NRC enrolment.

The Citizenship Act, 1955, provides various ways in which citizenship may be acquired.

The amendment would allow citizenship to undocumented Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.