The Nagaland government on Friday directed all heads of offices/departments in Dimapur to ensure that the services of their officers and staff are promptly put at the deputy commissioner’s disposal as and when necessary to carry out the inner-line permit (ILP) exercise in the district.

The state government on December 10 extended the ILP to Dimapur with immediate effect, bringing all 11 districts under the system.

Chief secretary Temjen Toy said every non-indigenous person entering Dimapur will be required to obtain an ILP in the same manner they are required to enter other areas of the state and under the same conditions provided in the government notification on May 3 last year. Every non-indigenous person who settled or entered Dimapur on or after November 21, 1979, when the area was constituted as “tribal belt”, will be required to obtain an ILP within 90 days, he added.

The move assumes significance as provisions of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, will not apply to states having ILP and Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. Of the seven northeastern states, only Meghalaya, Assam, and Tripura are now outside the purview of the ILP system that regulates the entry of “outsiders” under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873.

The government on Friday said with a large number of non-indigenous people settled in Dimapur likely to apply to obtain ILPs, certificates needed to be examined, processed and disposed of in a time-bound manner.

In a notification, the home department said there could arise a need for additional manpower to assist the Dimapur district administration.

PCC flays NDPP, NPF MPs: The Nagaland PCC came down heavily on the two MPs from Nagaland belonging to ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (Lok Sabha) and Opposition Naga People’s Front (Rajya Sabha) for voting in favour of the bill, saying they have misrepresented the Nagas in many forms.

PCC president K. Therie said though Rajya Sabha MP K.G. Kenye participated in the protest against the act outside Parliament, his vote in favour of the bill showed that he was not against it. Therie said the MP was unaware that the bill was in violation of rights provided in the Constitution under Article 13 and 14.

The PCC president said the Congress had opposed the bill in both Houses of Parliament as it was against the spirit of the Constitution. Therie said the “MPs as Christians should not have voted in favour of the bill that discriminated the Muslims in India and around the world”.