Indo-Bangla border to be totally sealed by December, says Sarbananda Sonowal

Guwahati: The BJP-led alliance government in Assam marked two years in power on Thursday.

Chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal announced that the International Border between India and Bangladesh in Assam would be completely sealed by December this year.

Informing that the riverine border along Banglad-esh will be sealed with non-physical barriers, Mr Sonowal said that the portion of land would be fortified with smart fencing which is going to stop infiltration as well as the cross-border crimes and illegal activities.

Addressing a press conference on the eve of completion of two years of his government, Mr Sonowal said, “We promised to the people before the 2016 polls that the border will be sealed. I am happy to announce that the Intern-ational Border between India and Bangladesh in Assam will be sealed completely by December this year.”

Reiterating the policy of zero-tolerance against corruption, Mr Sonowal said, “We have busted the biggest ever scam in Assam Public Service Commission and arrested 19 state civil service officers, seven state police service officers, 11 allied service officers and four others, including the chairman.”

Asserting that drive to end the corruption would continue, he said, “The CID has also registered seven corruption cases against government officials and arrested 15 serving government officials and public servants.”

Pointing out that his sustained drive against corruption has also boosted the revenue collection in various departments like excise, forest and GST, Mr Sonowal said, “Our fight against corruption has also led to a climate for investment in the state. Assam has received investment proposal worth `79,000 crore during the last two years.”

The chief minister, who also released a book — Parivartan — on the occasion, said that they have also identified more than 4 lakh bogus job cards and cancelled them. The Assam CM said that the previous Congress regime had decentralised the corruption to the village level.

As usual Mr Sonowal skipped a direct reply about the stand of the government on the Citizens-hip (Amendment) bill 2016 but reiterated, “If I cannot protect the people’s interests, there is no point to my staying on as chief minister.” He said that his government would not do anything that will go against their interest.