GUWAHATI: Assam has been, for years, battered by the illegal immigration of people from Bangladesh which threatens to alter the state’s demography among others. Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Thursday claimed the Centre, in coordination with the state government, has been able to stop the influx of the immigrants and cross-border crimes.
“In the past two years since we came to power, 100 MLAs of the state visited the India-Bangladesh border areas and took stock of the situation. I visited the border thrice and I keep myself updated on the activities along the border. I can tell you the influx of the immigrants and cross-border crimes including the smuggling of cattle and arms have been stopped,” Sonowal told reporters in Guwahati on the occasion of the completion of his BJP-led three-party coalition government’s completion of two years in office.
He said along with the Border Security Force (BSF), the state’s Border Police was playing a key role in curbing the cross-border crimes and thwarting immigration.
“Sealing the India-Bangladesh border was one of our poll promises. The Centre has set a target of December 31 this year to complete the border fencing work. Smart fencing, which includes gadgets including electronic eye, on the land border and technical barriers (floating detection devices) on the riverine sector of the border have come up. The work is being carried out at a very fast pace,” he said.
His comments came amidst widespread public outrage in the state against the Narendra Modi government’s move to pass the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 to grant citizenship to the non-Muslim immigrants of Bangladesh, besides Pakistan and Afghanistan. The locals fear the move would destroy their ethnic identity.
However, Sonowal sought to allay the fear saying his government would not take any steps hurting the interests of indigenous communities.
“Our commitment was to update the NRC (National Register of Citizens) as desired by the people of Assam and we are doing it under the direct monitoring of the Supreme Court. Assam is the first state in the country to do so. Let’s wait for June 30 when the second (and final) NRC draft is published. The exercise will help us to know the exact number of the immigrants living in the state,” the CM said.
The first draft, published on December 31 last year, contained the names of 1.9 crore of Assam’s 3.29 crore population.
In his speech, Sonowal spoke at length on the various measures of his government to check corruption which, he alleged, blossomed during the previous Congress government. He said ever since the formation of his government, it tried to bring about revolutionary changes in the administration to win people’s trust in governance.
“Our priority was to rid corruption from the system so that people can reap the benefits of various schemes. It was owing to our various initiatives against corruption, we had been able to arrest a number of senior government officials, including 27 officers of the state’s civil administration and police. Around 45,000 youth got jobs in a very transparent manner. It was our biggest joy. The collection of revenues by the government has also gone up substantially. The Congress never addressed the issue of corruption sincerely. As a result, the state suffered. Corruption is like a disease and if it is there, a state cannot progress,” Sonowal said.
He underlined various development measures of the government including the construction of six bridges over the Brahmaputra. Currently, work is in progress at two bridges.