Having already announced that Assam will be implementing 57 of the 67 recommendations of Justice Biplab Kumar Sarma Committee report on the Assam Accord, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday briefed about how the government plans to proceed in this regard.
"52 recommendations fall within the purview of the state government. Five to six recommendations are on the concurrent list and the remaining will require constitutional amendment. The main suggestions were on the lines of land and language, while some were regarding cultural preservation," he said.
While stating that the suggestions regarding the Barak Valley will not require any consultation before implementing, Sarma said, "We will have to discuss regarding the implementation of some of the recommendations. For the next three to four months, we will have weekly discussions with AASU every month."
The Assam Chief Minister said the government plans to take 52 suggestions to implementation stage before Bohag Bihu. "The first recommendation is beyond our purview. We will have to discuss this with the people of Karbi Anglong, Dima Hasao, and BTR. Assam government will work with the Centre to implement 15 of the recommendations. The state government will proceed to implement those recommendations that are within our ambit," he said.
Speaking further, Sarma said, "In the case of language, the final decision will only be after consultations with Barak Valley and the sixth schedule areas. In the remaining areas, we will implement it."
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister informed that identification of foreigners had stopped since the work on NRC compilation began in 2014. "In the last two months Bangladeshi intruders have been apprehended. Even if the numbers are low, illegal entry is happening, he said, informing that the system of identifying foreigners has been revived from today.
"Nine lakh people, whose Aadhaar works were pending will start to receive it from September. In several districts, we found the number of Aadhaar cards more than the population. Suspicious people are also getting Aadhaar cards. Only those who applied under NRC will be able to get Aadhaar cards. To get their Aadhaar cards, they will have to produce their NRC application numbers," Sarma said, warning that the process of gaining Aadhaar cards will become strict from October 1 throughout Assam, barring only tea garden areas.
He said, "For this, an SOP will be released within 10-15 days. The Centre has given state governments some special provisions. A person can only avail Aadhaar card if the state government confers it. As we found in Dhubri, Barpeta, Nagaon, and Morigaon that the number of Aadhaar cards is more than the population."
"Suspicious people are availing Aadhaar cards. From now on, Aadhaar will only be given after obtaining NOC from district commissioners. These decisions were taken during the cabinet meeting in Lakhimpur," Sarma added.
