Centre urged to seal IB border under Army's eye

Guwahati, Sep 2: Assam government has urged the Centre to seal Indo-Bangladesh border under the supervision of the Army, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal today said.

"Our honest aim is to seal the Indo-Bangla border as soon as possible. We have spoken many times to the Centre. We want that the work is done under the supervision and guidance of Indian Army," Sonowal said at a press conference here.

Also the quality of current fencing is not good and to prevent illegal immigration completely better quality of fencing should be done, he said.

Addressing the media on completion of his government's 100 days in office, Sonowal said he and his ministerial colleagues have been working with the motto of "zero tolerance to corruption".

"People's lives were crippled under corruption during the last government. Our thrust has been to give people relief from it. Our ministers are not only talking against corruption but are acting against this menace," he said adding, they are working to make the administrative system efficient and corruption-free so that its regains people's faith.

"We are also constantly monitoring the progress of the NRC update exercise. Our target is to update the document by 2017," he said.

The BJP-led government, Sonowal said, has always rushed help to people in all types of disasters like floods or terrorist attack in Kokrajhar or the blast in Tinsukia.

It is also working on controlling spiralling prices of food items, he said and claimed that the rates were lower in Assam than in Delhi.

Hitting out at the erstwhile Congress government on the economic front, Sonowal said his government has inherited a committed liability of around Rs 17,000 crore.

"CAG has pointed out that no accounts had been furnished for Rs 12,000 crore from 2004 to 2014. There was economic challenge when we took charge. This situation arose because of the mistakes by the last government," he said.

Asked about the implications of the Naga Peace Accord, Sonowal said, "Our stand is to safeguard the interest of the people. Our mandate is to work for that and we will work for that."

On the issue of big dams, he said the Assam government will follow the recommendations of the expert committee.