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    Identifying bona-fide Indian citizens and sealing Bangladesh border to top BJP government's agenda in Assam

    Synopsis

    The final NRC could pave the way for deportation of the illegal immigrants, who entered Assam after 1971 – a key poll promise of the BJP in the state.

    ET Bureau
    NEW DELHI: Key projects like the National Register of Citizens (NRC) project to identify the bona-fide Indian citizens in Assam and the fool-proof sealing of the Assam-Bangladesh border through technological vigil and laser walls over the river Brahmaputra stretch will get a fillip with the BJP coming to power in Assam, a top government functionary said.

    "Both these projects are top priority for the Centre and a key anti-immigrant agenda of the new state government," the official said, assuring a more focused exercise with the BJP in the saddle in Assam. The NRC project has been lagging behind the Supreme Court fixed deadlines.

    "As per SC 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. All resources will now be devoted to the exercise. One can expect the draft publication of the NRC in June or July and final NRC in next few months," the top official told ET.

    The final NRC could pave the way for deportation of the illegal immigrants, who entered Assam after 1971 – a key poll promise of the BJP in the state.

    A senior security official termed the 100 per cent border sealing call of the BJP as "more of a political statement", pointing out that nearly 224 km of the sanctioned length of 229 km of Assam-Bangladesh border was already fenced while 44 more kilometre was the riverine portion.

    "The real challenge is to use technology like laser walls to keep vigil over the 44-km odd riverine stretch, including the biggest stretch over the mighty Brahmaputra. The Centre is planning to do the same by the end of this year," the official said.

    He, however, said the change in political equations would mean that things would move faster on the anti-immigrant front in Assam. "In the times of Tarun Gogoi, it was almost a sin to speak of the illegal immigrant issue. The new Sonowal government will take it heads on. We could see many more arrests and deportations," the official added.

    Updating of NRC in Assam is a task taken up for the first time ever in India. Assam is the only state where Aadhaar exercise is hence on hold. Almost 34,000 officials have been put on the job to examine eligibility of nearly 68 lakh persons for inclusion in the final NRC and verifying the authenticity and acceptability of almost 4.8 crore documents submitted by them. The verification is being done by sending copies of these documents electronically to the issuing authorities in various states.


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