Online ILP for tourists in Nagaland launched

Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on Friday launched the online Inner Line Permit (ILP) to ease the process for tourists visiting the state without any hindrance.

"Happy to launch ILP for tourists to Nagaland. ILP segregates tourists and government officials of other states to promote tourism and development. Hence, a separate ILP is issued," Rio tweeted.

Principal Secretary Home, Abhijit Sinha said the present Online ILP module is only for domestic tourists.

"If it is done in working days, the whole process may take only 5-10 minutes" Sinha said. The online ILP module www.ilp.nagaland.gov.in is in addition to the manual mode, which will still be in operation," Sinha said.

The ILP derives from the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulations, 1873, and entails issuance of official travel documents issued by the Central government to allow inward travel of an Indian citizen into a protected/restricted area for a limited period.

It is a British-era regulation designed to preserve ethnicity and culture of the northeastern tribals. It required all Indian citizens, not usually residents of the area, to secure a special permit for entering the border states and regions of the North-East.

The permit system is still in force in Nagaland as well as Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh.

Sinha said ILP's online module will also improve the overall quality of monitoring of the implementation of the ILP regime as all the enforcement agencies will have access to realtime information of the applicants, the number of approvals obtained, the duration of visits and the places of visit.IANS