Fearing law and order problems ahead of the publication of the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) on December 31, the Assam Police have stepped up security in sensitive areas in the state. The data will be available in public domain from January 1.
Officials said the state has received 85 additional companies of central security forces and will call in the Army if needed. The process of updating the NRC began in 2015 to identify citizens of the state and root out illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, a key demand of the political parties and students organizations.
The Unified Command, a three-tier counter-insurgency structure, reviewed the security in Assam on Thursday at the 4 Corps headquarters in Tezpur. It is feared that there may be law and order problems in some of the areas of the state as names of several lakhs illegal migrants may be struck off from the list.
Assam Director-General of Police Mukesh Sahay said the meeting focused on increasing security at NRC ‘seva kendras’, where the draft list will be put up. The police would also keep an eye on social media platforms for inflammatory posts that could incite violence, Sahay said.
On Wednesday, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had assured “genuine” Indians that they would get enough opportunities to get their names added to the list, and urged people not to worry if they do not find their names on the first draft.