Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: The Assam Government is now contemplating on deporting illegal immigrants from the state under the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950.
Speaking to the media today, Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma said, "During the hearing of a case on Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court did mention that Assam doesn't require adherence to a prolonged judicial procedure to deport illegal migrants, as there is an old Act still valid - the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950. However, for some unknown reason, the government has not been noticing the relevance of this act. Of late, this Act has come to our notice as we got into a huddle and racked our brains to find a logical solution to the practice of pushback of Bangladeshis staying illegally in the state."
The Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950, was passed by the Parliament to deal with the influx of immigrants, particularly from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) into Assam after the partition of India. The Act aimed to address the issue of illegal migrants and to protect the interests of the existing residents of Assam. The primary goal of the Act was to provide a mechanism for the state government to expel immigrants who were not considered Indian citizens and had entered Assam illegally.
The Chief Minister said, "We've laid stress on the identification of foreigners. It will speed up now. Now on, we won't follow the meandering path of judicial process for the detection of foreigners. After identification, we will deport them. We've already pushed back hundreds of illegal Bangladeshis."
On encroachment, the Chief Minister said, "The government is taking action. A good sign is that now people think twice before encroaching on lands."
The Chief Minister appealed to the minority leaders of the state to do away with the practice of transferring their names in electoral rolls from one LAC to another LAC after migration. He said, "Pub Goalpara was a Hindu majority LAC. However, minority people from Baghbor LAC started moving to Pub Goapara LAC slowly and settled there. These people also transferred their names in the voter list from Baghbor to Pub Goalpara and made Pub Goalpara a minority-dominated LAC. I appeal to the minority leaders in the state not to encourage the transfer of names in the voter list from one LAC to another after their migration, as this practice leads to conflicts. This is just one instance. This has happened in several other LACs in the state."
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