GUWAHATI, Dec 25 - With the date for publication of the first draft of the updated National Register of Citizens (NRC) drawing closer, the All Assam Students� Union (AASU) and organisations representing 28 ethnic groups of the State today said that the future of the indigenous people of Assam depends entirely on the officers involved with the process. They also said that the State and Central Governments as well as the State Coordinator for updating the NRC and the Registrar General of India (RGI) should take all possible measures to prepare an error free NRC in the interest of protecting the identity of the indigenous people.
Talking to The Assam Tribune, AASU chief adviser Samujjal Bhattacharya said that teams of the students� body along with the members of the organizations representing ethnic groups of the State, prominent citizens, social organizations, women�s organizations, etc., visited almost all the districts in the past one month and had detailed talks with the Deputy Commissioners and other officers and employees engaged with the process of updating the NRC and assured full cooperation in the process.
Bhattacharya said that the basic aim was to give a boost to the morale of the personnel engaged in the process as they have been working round the clock after the Supreme Court directive of publishing the first draft of the NRC by December 31. In all the districts, teams headed by the Deputy Commissioners are working day and night , while, the Superintendents of Police of all the district are ensuring security to the officers who are on field visit. Even the Deputy Commissioners themselves are visiting different places to monitor the progress of the work and �we told all the officers that the future of the indigenous people would depend on their performance,� he added.
The AASU leader revealed that during the visits to different districts, they received allegations that in several places, illegal migrants tried to get their names included in the NRC with false or forged documents and there have been instances where false legacy data was provided. He said that the AASU teams submitted all such allegations before the Deputy Commissioners so that appropriate action can be taken immediately. However, at the same time, he said that the Deputy Commissioners themselves detected quite a large number of such false documents and appropriate action has been taken. In a few cases, birth certificates issued by the Director of Statistics of Government of Nagaland were found. �We requested the Deputy Commissioners to examine whether the documents are genuine ones or whether Director of Statistics is authorized to issue birth certificates,� he said.
Bhattacharya said that as a majority of the Ministers and legislators of the present ruling alliance came to politics through the Assam movement, they should also play their parts to ensure that a proper NRC containing names of only genuine Indian citizens is prepared to protect the indigenous people.
