Preliminary work for NRC started: Selvi informs LS

New Delhi, Nov 20 (UNI) Assam Government has started the preliminary work for updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC), 1951, the Lok Sabha was informed today.

Minister of State for Home Affairs V Radhika Selvi, in a written reply, said the scanning of available electorate upto 1971 had been carried out. The data entry of the available electorate upto 1971 and the NRC as available had also been taken up. The State Government had been advised to work out the modalities in this regard.

In response to a question, Ms Selvi said the second South Asian Association for Regional Conference (SAARC) Interior/Home Minister meeting was held here in October this year. This meeting was preceded by the Second meeting of SAARC Interior/Home Secretaries on October 24, 2007.

The meetings/conference discussed the challenges posed by terrorism, drug trafficking and trafficking in human beings. It resolved to fight terrorism, organised crime, money laundering and other serious forms of crime and to strengthen institutional mechanisms for accelerating cooperation through capacity building and intelligence sharing.

Respondng to another question on border-fencing along Indo-Pak and Indo-Bangladesh, Ms Selvi said it has been decided to fence 2007.63 kms of Indo-Pak border and 3406.87 kms of Indo-Bangladesh border. Initially 3286.87 kms was sanctioned by the governemnt.

Subsequently, an additional 120 kms has been sanctioned in Tripura.

She said there have been some damages to the fence primarily due to adverse climatic conditions, water logging, floods resulting in soil erosion and land slides.

She further disclosed that there are no reports of increase in cross-border activities due to damaged fence, though the affected areas do become vulnerable to illegal cross border activities.

The government had made adequate provisions for maintenance and repair of the fence. While the minor day-to-day repair is being caried out by Border Security Force (BSF), major repairs are being done by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD).

The Government has also decided to replace and upgrade 854 kms of fence initially constructed along the Indo-Bangladesh border, with a modified design, she added.

UNI