GUWAHATI, Dec 12 � The Government has constituted a committee to examine and recommend ways and means to prevent infiltration through the unprotected riverine international border with Bangladesh, while, various other steps have also been initiated to check infiltration. This was disclosed by the Minister in charge of Assam Accord implementation, Himanta Biswa Sarma in the State Assembly today.
In a written reply to a question by Monoranjan Das (BJP), the Minister said that to prevent infiltration through the river routes, three river police stations and seven river police posts have been set up. For the river police, one new India Reserve Battalion has been set up. He said that the border police has set up 159 observation posts in 17 infiltration prone districts.
The Minister informed the House that to detect foreigners, the number of Foreigners� Tribunals has been increased from 32 to 36, of which 35 have members. Steps are being taken to ensure that all the Tribunals have members and to make the posts of members of Tribunals attractive, the upper age limit has been increased from 65 years to 67. To ensure that the persons identified by the Tribunals as foreigners do not disappear, three detention centres have been set up at Goalpara, Kokrajhar and Silchar.
On the issue of updating the National Register of Citizens of 1951, the Minister said that the Cabinet sub committee formed to look into the matter has given its recommendation in this regard. The issue is now under consideration of the Government of India and the process of updating the NRC would start immediately after receiving the approval of the Central Government.
The Assam PWD has completed all the works allocated to it in respect of Indo-Bangla border roads and fencing except for 60 meters of roads and 150 meters of fencing. The incomplete works relate to completion of two bridges and the acquisition of land for the purpose would be completed soon. A stretch of around 2 kilometers could not be taken up at Latitila-Dumabari area in Karimganj district due to international border dispute, Sarma said.
On the implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, the Minister said that the cabinet sub committee formed to look into the issues relating to the clause are working on finding the definition of �Assamese people�. The committee has held meetings with various political parties and organizations on the issue.
