GUWAHATI, Aug 26 - Alleging that the provision of �claims and objections� is hardly sufficient to address the large-scale discrepancies in the draft NRC, the Prabrajan Virodhi Manch today demanded a reverification of the NRC in migrant-dominated areas of Assam.
Citing reference to a number of flaws in the NRC, the body fighting against illegal migration into Assam today claimed that a large number of such discrepancies have taken place at the institutional level and there are no other alternatives to reverification in such cases.
Manch convener and senior advocate Upamanyu Hazarika told media persons here that fundamental flaws at the institutional and verification level have led to the inclusion of a large number of foreigners in the border districts and also in migrant-dominated areas in other districts.
The organisation has also written to the RGI and Census Commissioner Sailesh and State NRC Coordinator Prateek Hajela, pinpointing such flaws in the NRC update process.
�There are thousands of such cases, where names of large numbers of foreigners, including declared foreigners by tribunals, have been included in the final draft. Too much reliance on field verification as the ultimate test for inclusion, overlooking the given documents, have also aggravated this problem,� Hazarika said.
�In the case of Manowara Bewa, a declared foreigner, the Supreme Court decided on the admissibility of panchayat certificates on 05.12.2017. Her application passed all tests of authentication of List-A, List-B documents, family-tree verification including field verification of her presence in the house when she was in the detention camp,� he mentioned.
�Even the persons with noncompliant documents have been verified on the basis of three neighbours identifying them. Gross discrepancies like a change in the names of the legacy persons have been overlooked. Unfortunately, such field verification did not go through any quality check at initial as well as the final stage,� the Manch alleged.
The organisation also pointed out that seven out of 23 field level officers in the Garukhuti NRC Seva Kendra did not have their names in the NRC. It expressed apprehension that other areas too might include the field officers with doubtful credentials.
�In Dhubri alone, more than 4,000 of the 6,000 doubtful citizens have been included in the list. Inclusion of persons with cases pending before the foreigners' tribunal, inclusion of D-voters, gross anomalies in field verification, overlooking the population growth pattern in some of the bordering districts and migrants' dominated areas, poor quality of personnel deployed in the process are some of the facts clearly pointing at the large-scale anomalies in such a mammoth exercise,� Hazarika said.
