Tripartite talks between AASU, Centre and state government on Wednesday

GUWAHATI: A day ahead of the tripartite talks between the All Assam Students’ Union, Government of India and Government of Assam, a marathon discussion was held between Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and the representatives of the students’ union at Assam Bhawan in New Delhi on Tuesday.

The meeting which lasted for nearly two hours discussed threadbare all the clauses of the Assam Accord and in particular Clauses 6 and 7 pertaining to Constitutional safeguards to indigenous people and economic safeguards.

It also discussed the process of National Register of Citizens (NRC) updation exercise to weed out the names of illegal immigrants. Chief Minister Sonowal said he has been monitoring the progress regularly and has held around 40 meetings in this regard.

It also decided to place in Wednesday meeting with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh for complete sealing of the porous border on a war footing.

Sonowal pointed out that both the Governments at the State and Centre are committed to sealing of the border, including riverine areas to prevent the influx of illegal immigrants once and for all. The Chief Minister also mentioned about the slew of initiatives taken by the State Government to develop the far flung and border areas.

It also discussed regarding clause-wise time bound implementation of the Assam Accord, which the students’ union will raise at the tripartite talks at the Home Ministerial level. The meeting decided to raise the perennial flood and erosion problem and protection of the riverine island Majuli from the fury of the Brahmaputra. Completion of the Bogibeel bridge within a stipulated time frame will also be taken up in tomorrow’s meeting.