APW reiterates demand for engaging third party for monitoring NRC update process

GUWAHATI, Sept 8 - Voluntary organisation Assam Public Works (APW) today reiterated its demand for engaging a third party to assist in the monitoring of the update process of the National Register of Citizens (NRC). This is necessary to get direct feedback from the field and to report it to the Supreme Court of India, which is monitoring the entire NRC update process.

APW president Aabhijeet Sarma said in a press release here today that the officers engaged in verifying the NRC update process are not permitted to report the anomalies in the verification process because of their being government officials. �Unless their assessments are taken into account, it won�t be possible to correct the mistakes already committed in the process,� said Sarma.

He alleged that because of the failure of the officers, working under the State NRC Coordinator Prateek Hajela, to fill up the DMIT forms properly, names of a sizeable number of indigenous peoples like the Deshi and Garia Musalmans were left out, while the names of almost all the people of East Bengal or Bangladesh origin have featured in the final draft of the NRC. The State Coordinator of the NRC has by this time admitted that legacy data were purchased by some people to get their names entered in the updated NRC, Sarma said.

The situation came to such a pass that one Khairul Islam, who was declared a foreigner by the Gauhati High Court, could get himself engaged as an NRC official at the Mikirbheta NSK. The matter came to light only after publication of the final draft of the NRC. It is quite possible that many such foreigners are involved in the NRC update process either due to the oversight of the authorities or as part of a design, Sarma alleged.

Names of the members of the families declared foreigners or doubtful voters have also featured in the final draft of the NRC in Morigaon district. This has come to light from the statement made by Morigaon DC Hemen Das. The instance of inclusion of the names of such people in the Morigaon district NRC should not be viewed as an isolated one, Sarma said, adding, there are many such incidents in other districts too.

The APW has made an appeal before the Supreme Court to engage a third party for quality check of each of the NSKs (NRC Seva Kendras). The officials from a district should be engaged to hear the claims and objections in a different district or there should be at least a mix-up of the officials and officials of the same district should not be allowed to decide the claims and objections concerning their respective district.

There should be necessary court orders for reverification of the names of the illegal migrants included in the final draft of the NRC in the districts of Dhubri, Kokrajhar, Chirang, South Salmara, Goalpara, Bongaigaon, Barpeta, Nalbari, Kamrup, Kamrup (Metro), Darrang, Udalguri, Sonitpur, Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Morigaon, Nagaon, Hojai, Golaghat, Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi through the family tree or other means, said the voluntary organisation in its plea made before the apex court.