GUWAHATI, March 27: The Registrar General of India (RGI) has turned down a request of the Assam government to continue financial support for completing pending work of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) beyond March 31 this year.
Taking strong exception to the “inordinate delay” in completion of the entire exercise, the RGI in a letter suggested to the Assam government to terminate the services of “surplus staff” and hand over the workload to government staff, besides shift the NRC office to a government building.
In a letter on March 4, the Assam government had sought an additional Rs 3.22 crore per month beyond March 31 for completion of the pending NRC activities in addition to the allocated Rs 1,602.66 crore for the entire project.
The RGI in a letter dated March 23 to the Assam government said, “All the activities of NRC updation were to be completed within the approved cost of the scheme by 31.03.2021 and there is no further provision of funds for the expenditure made under the scheme beyond 31.03.2021.”
The time and cost for completing the pending work and winding up the project was not explained in the proposal, the letter said, adding the requirement of software developed for various NRC activities may be assessed and the software not required may be discontinued. – PTI
