The issue of illegal immigrants will be prominent on the agenda of the conference of chief ministers convened by Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani on Saturday.
The other issues that will be discussed in the conference, which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, are coastal area security and multipurpose identity-card schemes.
The home ministry is chalking out a plan to find a permanent end to the immigration problem and avoid situations like the recent one involving 213 Bangladeshis who were stranded in West Bengal's Cooch Behar district.
It is also learnt that the home ministry may recommend amendments to the law pertaining to immigration and the Indian Migration Deportation Tribunal, which is in force in Assam.
The ministry feels that under this legislation, illegal immigrants get the benefit of slow trials and continue to stay in India.
In this context the issue of Multipurpose National Identity Cards for the citizens is also likely to gain momentum.
The idea is to introduce the I-cards first in the border states and then in the rest of the country.
Problems of the Northeast will also come up for discussion, particularly in the context of the recent talks between the Centre and the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah).
The issue of insurgency in Tripura and the left-wing extremism in other states may also be deliberated upon.
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