Sonowal requests Sangma for smooth movement of people through

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has requested his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad Sangma to take urgent measures for ensuring the "smooth movement" of people and vehicles of Assam passing through Meghalaya, an official release said.

The chief minister's request to Conrad Sangma yesterday came in the wake of reports of some groups setting up private check gates in Meghalaya to stop people moving to Meghalaya after the publication of the complete draft of NRC on July 30.

An official release from the Chief Minister's Office yesterday night said that Sonowal sought Sangma's "expeditious intervention" during the telephonic conversation and also informed him that the harassment caused to the people of Assam had been brought to the notice of the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

Sangma, while taking cognizance of the seriousness of the matter, assured Sonowal of taking all necessary measures in this regard, the statement claimed.

On August 1, Khasi Students' Union (KSU) President L Marngar said that the KSU activists had set up infiltration check gates and sent back over 1,500 people to Assam as they tried to flee to Meghalaya after their names did not feature in the complete NRC draft.

The KSU chief had expressed apprehension that many of those over 40 lakh people, whose names were not included in the NRC draft, would try to infiltrate to Meghalaya that shares a 900-km-long border with Assam.

Altogether, 2,89,83,677 persons were included in the complete draft of the NRC out of a total 3,29,91,384 applicants, thereby excluding the names of 40,07,707 people.