GUWAHATI: “Technical barriers whose efficacy has been tested in some other parts of the globe, are being procured to seal the river portion of Border with Bangladesh in Assam,” said Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal while claiming that India-Bangladesh border in Assam will be sealed by the end of this year.
The chief minister further informed the on-going process of construction of smart fencing along the landed portion of the 272 KM long India-Bangladesh border in Assam would be completed by the end of December this year as the work was going on in full swing.
Sonowal said once the international border which is guarded by the Border Security Force (BSF), was sealed completely the checking of illegal migration across the border would become easier. He claimed that already illegal activities like smuggling had come down across the border due to mounted vigil by the BSF.
He pointed out that as a chief minister he visited the India-Bangladesh border in Assam three times so far to understand the ground realities while 100 MLAs of the state too have separately visited the border to talk to the people there as well as the BSF personnel to learn about the ground realities.
“The present government in the state was alive to the problems along the international border with Bangladesh and is constantly monitoring the same in coordination with the BSF. I talks with BSF officials in borer every month to take an update,” Sonowal said adding that the technical barriers that will be set up along the riverine are tested globally and hopes that the same would be effective here too.
Regarding the raging protests in the state against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, Sonowal said the BJP-led government in Assam would wait till completion of the final draft of the updated National Register of Citizens (NRC) by June 30 next before spelling out its stand on the Bill.
Sonowal said Assam is the first and only state in the country where the NRC is being updated till March 25, 1971. “Once the NRC is updated, it will become easier to detect illegal migrants from genuine India citizens living in the state,” he said adding that over 50,000 government employees in Assam have been deployed to help the agencies assigned to update the NRC.