[Assam] 42, 449 foreigners detected since Assam Accord, only 2, 221 deported till date

Tue Aug 7 22:12:22 PDT 2007

     42,449 foreigners detected  since Assam Accord, only 2,221 deported till date
By A Staff Reporter ASSAM TRIBUNE
 GUWAHATI, Aug 7  Since the signing of the Assam  Accord, 42,449 foreign nationals have been identified and of them only 2,221  have been deported. Disclosing this in the State Assembly today in reply to a  question put by Ramendranarayan Kalita (AGP) Assam Accord Implementation  Minister Dr Bhumidhar Barman told the House that 85 per cent of the barbed wire  fencing along the Indo-Bangla border had so far been completed.

However,  he told the House in reply to a question from Keshab Mahanta (AGP) that  initially, the deadline for completion of the barbed wire fencing along the  Indo-Banlga border was fixed to be December 31, 2006 as per the decision of the  tripartite meetings on Assam Accord implementation held on May 5, 2005 and  February 2, 2006. 

The revised deadline fixed for the purpose by the  tripartite meeting held on July 11 last is yet to be known, he said.

The  Minister told the House in reply to a question from Dr Alaka Sarma (AGP) that by  March 31, 2008, repair of the barbed wire fences built under Phase-I of the  Border Management Division would be completed. 

Implementation of the  clauses 8,13,14 and 15 of the Assam Accord has been completed, said the Minister  in reply to a question from Karendra Basumatary (BPPF- H).

Dr Barman  said, in reply to another question from Uddhab Barman (CPI-M) that the  possibility of some secret attempts at infiltrating into the State by  Bangladeshi nationals couldnt be ruled out.

The House witnessed a din  following the Ministers failure to give an exact time frame for the completion  of the updating of the 1951 National Register of Citizens (NRC).

The  Opposition members demanded that the Minister should announce an exact time  frame for the completion of the NRC updating process. But the Minster said that  it was not possible on the part of the State Government to state the exact time  of the completion of the process. The State Government alone cannot complete the  process, he said.

Opposition members like Girindra Kumar Barua (AGP),  Ranjit Dutta (BJP) and Abdul Aziz (AGP) were heard saying that the State  Government had been saying that the process of updating of the 1951 document was  on.

At that point, the Minister told the House that the State Government  had been asking the Centre to give the former the sole authority to prepare the  document and also to provide it with the modalities for the purpose as early as  possible.

Leader of the Opposition Brindaban Goswami then reminded the  Minister that at the first tripartite meeting on the implementation of the Assam  Accord the decision to complete the updating process within two years was taken.  He also wanted to know as to whether the modalities for the purpose were  formulated. 

Dr Barman said that the sincerity of the Government should  not be doubted and scanning of the old copies of the document had been almost  completed. The AMTRON has been doing the data entry now. The Union Government  was moved for the modalities in August 2005 and it has asked the State  Government to state its requirements in matters of formulating the  modalities.

Moreover, the Chief Minister is setting up a Cabinet  sub-committee, which will finalise the modalities and then send them to the  Union Government. The State Government will need some more time for the purpose,  he said, adding, But I dont know how much, as it involves the Central  Government.

Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma supplemented Dr Barman, saying  that the Cabinet sub-committee would finalise the modalities in consultation  with the AASU within the next one to one and a half month.

The problem in  updating the NRC arose when Ministers Prithivi Majhi and Chandan Brahma alleged  in a Cabinet meeting that names of many tea tribe people and indigenous tribal  people were not enrolled in the 1971 voters lists.

The Government will  come up with a statement on the NRC after the return of the Chief Minister who  is now visiting the flood-ravaged areas with UPA Chairman Sonia Gandhi, he  said.

Minister Barman also told the House in reply to Uddhab Barmans  question that the definition of Assamese people needed to be arrived at for  implementing the Clause VI of the Assam Accord. The State Government has  initiated all actions for arriving at a conclusion on the issue, he  said.

On the issue, he also told the House in reply to the question put  by Ramendranarayan Kalita that a Ministerial level committee has been examining  all the aspects connected with the definition. The State Government will  consider the recommendations of this committee and send them to the Union  Government for approval, he said.

The Minister told the House in reply to  a question from Girindra Kumar Barua (AGP) that there were 32 foreigners  tribunals in the State. One of them had no judge, while judges assuming  additional responsibilities are running five other tribunals, he  said.

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