GUWAHATI: The Assam government will toughen Aadhaar issuance rules to detect and push back illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday said the government would soon implement a decision whereby Aadhaar cards for adult citizens would be issued only by the district commissioners (DCs).
“At a cabinet meeting today, we discussed that we should toughen the Aadhaar issuance rules. Usually, people who come to Assam and Bharat from Bangladesh (illegally) are adults. We’ve already achieved 100% Aadhaar coverage, so if a new adult applies for Aadhaar, we will thoroughly enquire it,” Sarma said while addressing a press conference.
“Soon, only the DCs will have the power to issue Aadhaar. If such a policy is made, it will be difficult for the Bangladeshis to obtain Aadhaar. Detecting and pushing them back will be easy if they do not possess Aadhaar,” he further stated.
His comments came hours after Assam had pushed back 20 more illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. Referring to this, he said, “The decision to toughen the Aadhaar issuance rules will only aid our efforts in this direction.”
In April, the government had announced a crackdown on Aadhaar cardholders who did not apply to get their names included in the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Sarma had then stated that the government had stopped issuing Aadhaar to those who did not apply for NRC. He also stated that the government had prepared an action plan to detect and drive out illegal immigrants who had entered Assam over the past few years.
In September last year, Sarma said that four Assam districts had more Aadhaar cardholders than their projected population. The four districts are Barpeta, Dhubri (both in lower Assam), Morigaon and Nagaon (both in central Assam). Dhubri shares a border with Bangladesh.
“We found that 103.74% of people were issued Aadhaar cards in Barpeta, 103.48% in Dhubri, 101.74% in Morigaon and 100.68% in Nagaon. Definitely, suspected immigrants managed to take Aadhaar,” Sarma had stated.