Inner Line Permit a must for Andaman: LBA

Port Blair, Apr 8 (UNI) The Local Born Association (LBA) today said the Andaman and Nicobar administration must soon implement Inner Line Permit(ILP) to check widespread influx in the Islands.

''Inner Line Permit is a must for these islands as it was directed by the Supreme Court years back,'' Dr Rohinder Lall, the president of LBA, the largest and oldest organisation of these Islands told UNI.

Local residents felt that the population in these far-flung islands had already crossed its capacity.

According to reports, thousands of people from South and North East India continued to pour into these islands in search of job, most of whom later settled down by encroaching upon government or forest land.

''Influx is dangerous for these islands and Local Born Association is always fighting against this,'' Dr Lall added.

The LBA and a few other local organisations had requested the Andaman and Nicobar Administration many times to implement Inner Line Permit, as per the Supreme Court directive of May 2002.

Recently the local administration of these centrally governed islands had also taken initiatives towards implementation of ILP.

The administration had already asked all local residents to get their Islanders Identity Cards done.

According to official figure, the population of these remote islands is nearly 2.8 lakh but unofficially the figure crossed more than 4.5 lakh.

UNI SKR PL SS ARB RK1815