Students' body calls for extension of NRC to other NE states

While Assam's neighbours were on their toes today to thwart possible infiltration of people who were left out of the NRC final draft, a prominent students' body of the region called for extending the citizens' register to the other north-eastern states.

The final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) was released in Assam today.

Lauding the Assam government for its achievement in preparing the draft NRC, the North East Students' Organisation (NESO), an umbrella body of students of all the north-eastern states, demanded that the exercise be extended to the other states in the region as well as they too faced the illegal immigration problem.

NESO chairman Samuel Jyrwa said, "The NRC was one of the demands after the Assam Accord. Now, we desire that it should be extended to all the north-eastern states."
KSU president L Marngar said, "Those rejected from Assam will certainly now use Meghalaya as a refuge. Unlike Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, who have the Inner Line Permit (ILP) provisions, Meghalaya does not have such facilities to detect influx."
Six districts of the state -- Kohima, Dimapur, Mokokchung, Wokha, Mon and Longleng -- shared the border with Assam, he said, adding, "We are keeping a close watch on any possibilities of influx."