New Delhi: In a bid to put an end to infiltration into Assam, India will completely seal its borders with Bangladesh within the next two years, Assam’s chief minister-to-be Sarbananda Sonowal said here.
“Home Minister Rajnath Singh had given a two-year time frame for permanent sealing of the border. We will work towards finishing within that time frame the border sealing work, including the riverine border. Indo-Bangladesh border is not completely sealed, specially in certain riverine areas through which infiltration actually takes place. We want that it must be completely sealed so that there is zero infiltration from across the border,” he told reporters here on Sunday evening.
He said sealing of the borders with Bangladesh and completion of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) will be his government’s priority to put an end to infiltration.
As per Supreme Court orders in 2014, the final updated NRC was to be published on January 1, 2016 and verification of the records was to be completed by last September. However, the verification is still on as on date though it has achieved 97 per cent levels across the state. The final NRC could pave the way for deportation of the illegal immigrants, who entered Assam after 1971.
“We have promised to the people of Assam that the two key priorities of our government would be complete sealing of the border and completion of NRC before the elections. Therefore, we are obliged to doing them and show to the people that we are sincere to our promises. The updation process of NRC has been going on. It is getting delayed but we want to complete it as early as possible,” 53-year-old Sonowal said.
“When the final draft of the (ongoing) updated National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam is published, it will be clear who are the citizens and infiltrators will get identified. The problem will get solved and action will then be taken against infiltrators as per existing law. Like the Wagah border in Punjab with Pakistan, we will also have a similar ceremony in Assam along the Indo-Bangladesh border. We will make it into a tourist spot where people can come and watch the ceremony. This will also stop infiltration”, he added.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had made infiltration one of the major issues in the poll campaign.
Rajnath Singh had during his visit to the Indo-Bangla border in Karimganj district of southern Assam in January this year had said that the construction of the barbed wire fence along the Assam stretch would be completed by the end of this year.
“The infiltration trend will stop automatically as soon as the border is sealed permanently. We will also create awareness among the people to prevent infiltration”, he had said.
The total length of the Indo-Bangladesh border is 4,096km of which 263km falls in Assam. In the Assam stretch, 224km has already been fenced while around 40km is riverine.
The BJP government would take oath on May 24 here at the Khanapara Field in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
