Government will ensure no foreigner's name is included in NRC: Sonowal

Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal today said his government will stay vigilant to ensure that name of any foreigner is not included in the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Hoisting the national flag at the Veterinary College playground here on the 72nd Independence Day, Sonowal said the list published last month was only a draft.

"We will keep an eye so that name of any foreigner is not included in the NRC," he said.

"The government is also committed to ensure that no Indian citizen living in Assam is left out of the NRC," he added.

The NRC will become an important safeguard for making Assam foreigner-free and the government had assured this after coming to power in 2016, he said.

Sonowal hailed the 70,000 policemen who were deployed in the state to ensure peaceful publication of the final draft of the NRC on July 30 and lauded the hard work of the 55,000 government employees in preparing the document.

Speaking about corruption in the state, Sonowal claimed it had come down drastically in the last two years and said 52 officials had already been arrested in the cash-for-job scam in the Assam Public Service Commission. The commission's dismissed chairman has also been arrested.

He said since his government assumed office, it has appointed over 45,000 people in various government jobs in permanent and contractual positions.

For making Assam a pollution-free state, the state government set a target to plant 10 crore saplings, out of which 4.5 crore have already been planted, the chief minister said.

He said 170 poachers have been arrested in the last two years and 10 fast track courts set up for their trial.