Shillong, July 30: Inner Line Permit (ILP) is a double-edged sword as it affects investment but gives protection to the community, Arunachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Pasang D Sona said on Sunday.
Besides Arunachal Pradesh, ILP is implemented in Mizoram and Manipur.
In 2019, a resolution was passed in Meghalaya Legislative Assembly urging the Centre to implement ILP.
Speaking to reporters after the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) meeting attended by North East MLAs, Sona said, “ILP is a double-edged sword because if there is ILP, there is restriction in investment, see if I am an investor and I want to come to a place but when there are so many regulations, I might look at some other places where there are less regulations”.
Sona, who is also the chairman of the CPA said, “At the same time when you talk about protecting the ethnicity and the indigenous people again ILP becomes a very good tool to protect the local indigenous culture and the people and if you want your identity and your culture to be restored then you have to lose something on your investment front and if you want investment then you have to lose something on your other things. So it is a double edged sword and it is how you take it.”
He admitted that ILP has both merits and demerits but added that Arunachal Pradesh will not withdraw ILP from the state.
“No, we don’t have anything in our mind to remove that because things are placed in such a way, people are also aware there is an ILP so they get ready to come to Arunachal Pradesh seeking ILP,” he said.
The government has eased the process of releasing ILP by online application or the visitors can obtain the permit at the entry point,he said.
“There is a little mental blockade thing but things have been eased. You can apply ILP online and get ILP within hours and you can travel. It is just the mental blockade, you just take that out of your mind everything is fine but ILP is ILP,” Sona added.
Changing world, choice with govt
He said the world is changing and everything is online.
“Like I said you don’t need a thing to travel to a place, you can travel through internet so anyway like I said it is upto the government, you have to analyse how it is going to benefit when you implement the ILP”, he added.
