Rajnath Singh assures Assam help to check foreigner influx

Guwahati: Union home minister Rajnath Singh has reiterated commitment of his party to deal with the problem of infiltration of foreigners, including sealing the international border with Bangladesh.

Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal who met Mr Singh in New Delhi said that the home ministry was committed to fulfill its promises and assured all necessary help to the state in fighting corruption and dealing with the problem of infiltration of foreigners.

“The Union home minister has assured the Centre’s support to Assam on all these issues,” he said.

Pointing out that a number of issues plaguing Assam were discussed at the meeting, Mr Sonowal’s office said that the problem of floods was also discussed and the Union home minister assured that the Centre would extend all necessary help in dealing with the problem and providing relief to the affected people.

Mr Sonowal also raised the issue of updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and apprised Mr Singh that the draft of the updated NRC would be ready by December 31 this year.

He said that all precautions were being taken to ensure that the updated NRC was totally free from any mistake and that was why the process was taking some time.

He also informed Mr Singh that the Assam government was forced to remove 19 members of the foreigners tribunals as their performance was not satisfactory.

The union home minister informed Mr Sonowal that he issued instructions to officials concerned to expedite the process of sealing the international border with Bangladesh so that further infiltration could be checked.

He also requested Mr Sonowal to personally visit the international border to assess the situation on the ground. The media adviser of Assam chief minister, Hrishikesh Goswami, also accompanied the chief minister during the meeting in New Delhi.