GUWAHATI, June 5 � The State Government has decided to try to bring consensus among various groups of people on the issue of updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC), while the All Assam Students� Union (AASU) has demanded that the new Government should complete the process of updating the citizenship document within a specific time-frame.
Minister in-charge of Assam Accord Implementation Himanta Biswa Sarma said that difference of opinion among different organizations of the State on the application form issued for implementing the pilot project for updating the NRC created problems leading to the suspension of the project last year. He said that some organizations are against the application form, while the others supported the same.
Sarma said that efforts would be made to hold talks with all concerned organizations to
resolve the contradictions so that the process of updating the NRC can be resumed as soon as possible.
Sarma, who has been given the charge of the Assam Accord Implementation Department for the first time, said that the main job of the department is to coordinate among the various State and Central government departments engaged in implementing various clauses of the Accord. �Some clauses of the Accord are yet to be implemented fully and some are yet to be implemented. It will be our endeavour to ensure that all the clauses are implemented,� he added.
Meanwhile, the AASU demanded that the NRC should be updated all over the State within a specific time-frame. AASU adviser Samujjal Bhattacharya said that the decision to update the NRC within two years was taken in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on May 5, 2005, but the Central and State governments failed to take effective steps in this regard. Though the pilot project of updating the NRC had started in two development blocks of the State last year. It was suspended after violent protests by one organization.
Bhattacharya said that there was nothing wrong in the application forms issued for updating the NRC and the Government should make efforts to make the people aware about the same. The AASU, on its part, tried to create awareness among the people in different parts of the State on the issue, he added.
The AASU adviser said that updating of the NRC is important for the protection of the indigenous people and genuine Indian citizens. The Government should take care to ensure that no Bangladeshi national manages to include his or her name in the NRC with false information, he demanded.
