GUWAHATI, April 21 � Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today called upon the senior officers to remain vigilant during the process of updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC). He also called upon the officers to take effective steps to expedite the pace of development.
Addressing a meeting of the deputy commissioners and superintendents of police of all the districts at the Assam Administrative Staff College here, the Chief Minister said the officers should take adequate care to ensure that no foreigner can enroll his or her name in the NRC. At the same time, names of Indian citizens should not be left out of the NRC, he said.
Gogoi cautioned the officers that some circles with vested interests might try to pose hurdles in the way of updating the NRC and said that all necessary steps would have to be taken to remove any such hurdle.
The Chief Minister stressed the need for expediting the pace of development and assured the officers that there would be no political interference in implementation of projects. He claimed that rapid development was taking place in the State, but admitted that there was still much to be done for the benefit of the poor and weaker sections of society. He said all officers should monitor the implementation of the projects and the senior officers should also personally monitor implementation of different projects.
Gogoi pointed out that in a democratic country like India, every citizen had the right to express his or her views and sometimes, displeasures among the people might lead to law-and-order problems. The police should be careful in handling such situations and minimum force should be used. He said that every life was precious and police should resort to firing only as the last resort. The police should improve their intelligence gathering mechanism so that any agitation turning into a potential law-and-order problem could be prevented. At the same time, he stressed the need for improving police-public relations.
