KSU Stops Bus Carrying 42 Undocumented Workers in Ri-Bhoi

Shillong: KSU members caught 42 migrant workers on a bus early Wednesday morning. They stopped the vehicle, marked AS15AC1929, at Umsamlem on National Highway 6 around 12:30 am. The union acted on a tip regarding people entering Meghalaya from Assam. Lester Nongbet of the Umsning Circle and John Lyngdoh of the Nongpoh Circle led the operation.

None of the passengers could produce legal documents. The KSU sent the entire group back. The workers reportedly named a local facilitator who helped them cross the border. The union is now hunting for that contact. KSU leadership suspects many of these laborers were heading to industrial sites in East Jaintia Hills.

The group slammed the state for failing to put teeth into the Meghalaya Identification, Registration (Safety & Security) of Migrant Workers Act, 2020. They want actual enforcement, not just paperwork. As the union noted, "the law must be strictly enforced on the ground rather than existing merely on paper." Officials within the union promised to ramp up checks to block illegal entry points moving forward.