GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Thursday said his government had moved the Supreme Court seeking the re-verification of sample documents of National Register of Citizens (NRC) to ensure a pure and error-free document.
“We had petitioned the SC for re-verification of the NRC only to ensure a pure and error-free document. I reiterate that the Assam government is committed towards protection of all genuine Indian citizens residing in the state,” he said in his Independence Day speech here.
Stating that the NRC is being updated under the supervision of the SC and that around 55,000 state government employees are involved in the process, he expressed optimism that the NRC would be a historic document which would neither include the name of any foreigner nor exclude any genuine Indian citizen.
Given the high percentage of inclusion of names in NRC in districts bordering Bangladesh and a high percentage of exclusion in districts where the tribals are in a large majority, the Sonowal government suspect that many illegal immigrants from Bangladeshi have managed to make it to NRC.
The CM expressed plaudits to the Central government for the constitution of a High Level Committee on Clause 6 of the Assam Accord.
“Today, we are on the way to secure constitutional safeguards for our people. Formation of the High Level Committee on Clause 6 is another historic step taken by the PM,” Sonowal said.
He said the eviction drives by the state government saw the Kaziranga National Park and other reserve forests being made free from illegal encroachments.
“Satras, Namghars, (places of worship), temples and various religious institutes are our heritage. We have brought in legislation to protect them from encroachments. Through Assam Darshan, we have increased financial grants by Rs.2 lakh (to the religious sites) and taken steps for their conservation,” he added.
Several militant groups from the Northeast had called for boycott of the Independence Day celebration and urged people to observe a general strike. However, people defied the diktat and took part in the celebration. No untoward incident was reported from any part of the region.