Biren Govt to resume biometric data collection of illegal immigrants, FMR to close permanently

The Chief Minister of Manipur, N. Biren Singh, has announced that the State government would resume collecting biometric data of illegal immigrants in the interest of safeguarding the indigenous people and to identify the influx of illegal immigrants.

While briefing the media at his Secretariat in Imphal on Saturday, N. Biren Singh informed that the Centre had earlier instructed the State government to complete the biometric registration by September this year. However, he said, the process could not be completed owing to the vastness of the land and the ongoing conflict in the State.

The Chief Minister also said that he has requested the Centre to extend and give another one year time to the State government to complete the biometric registration of the illegal immigrants.

The Goverent had earlier formed a Cabinet Sub-Committee to look aftwr yhe matter with Minister Letpao Haokip as the Chairman and Awangbou Newmai and Thounajam Basanta as members.

Besides resuming the biometric registration, Biren said the border fencing at vulnerable areas along the 398 km stretch is also of utmost importance and Border Road Organisation has been instructed to take up the border fencing work for about 60 km in the vulnerable areas.

Regarding the Free Movement Regime (FMR) which allows citizens living along the border on either side of India and Myanmar to travel up to 16 km inside the other country without Visa, Biren said the State government has requested the Centre to permanently close the FMR with Myanmar.

"State government has a firm belief that the Centre will also consider the request for closing the Free Movement Regime," he said.

Manipur Chief Minister also said that the government is committed to resettle the displaced persons in their original places. Till today, around 700/800 houses from Torbung re-occupied and the same has been done for Sugnu area too, he said while adding that the compensation amount for the displaced persons or the affected families have also been discussed.

Stating that the firing has stopped for the past one month, Biren credited the deployment of security forces in the vulnerable areas for such development. "No other security forces besides those already stationed were allowed to enter Churachandpur earlier but since September 22, more security forces have been sent to the district with corporations from the womenfolk and civil society organizations," he said.

Expressing concern for the number of youths affected by drugs, Biren said as per report in 2019, Manipur stands at 8th among the highest in alcoholic use, 10th in Ganja use ,4th in Opiod use and 3rd in sedative use in the country and 8th in inhalant use. He expressed a special need to strengthen the war against drugs in wider manner.

"The State government will conduct aerial survey of poppy plantations in hill areas and destroy the plantations with the help from Narcotics Control Bureau, Narcotics Affairs and Borders along with security personnels," Biren added.