Holding vote bank politics responsible for the illegal infiltration from Bangladesh, outgoing Meghalaya director general of police Sibabrata Kakati has said that politicians are reluctant to solve the "serious" issue.

"It is a serious problem. Demographic changes are rapid. Political parties are not keen on solving the issue. It is because of political patronage and vote bank politics that the problem has assumed such serious proportions," Kakati told PTI in an interview.

Kakati, a 1976 IPS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre who retires today, said that though the rate of present influx is not as threatening as before, but "people were still coming from across the border".

"The solution to the problem is economic. You have to have your own labour force. Now, when more and more enterprises are coming up, unless you fill up that vacumn of required manpower the problem would persist. Assam will be swamped if it goes on like this," he said.

On the insurgency scenario in the region, the senior IPS officer who has served in various branches of the security apparatus in the Northeast, said it is difficult to take out the roots of militancy from the region.

"If you satisfy one group, another outfit comes up. The futility of armed movement is yet to be understood by the youth. They are not enlightened. We will have to keep on facing the menace," Kakati said, pointing to the "war cries given by an ULFA faction led by Paresh Barua at a time when another groups is readying for the talks".

He, however, described the militancy as a "money making business" taken up by some "opportunists".

"Many outfits have realised that armed revolution is not possible because of the might of the state and so they have come overground. But small groups will keep on surfacing.

The history of the region speaks for it," the outgoing DGP, who also had a stint with the paramilitary BSF, said.

He also felt that the "propensity of that kind (militancy) will exist in the Garo hills of Meghalaya because of the economic disparity faced by the areas in relation to other parts".

Concerned over the rising cases of crime against women in the matrilineal society of Meghalaya, he rued that more than 500 rape cases are pending trial since years.

"Unless exemplary punishment is given to the guilty, this menace will keep on plaguing the society. Even the Supreme Court has said that courts can take strong view in such cases," Kakati observed.

Rape cases are reported very late in the state and as a result the evidentiary value goes down, he said.