GUWAHATI, June 27 - With a little over a month to go for the publication of the final National Register of Citizens (NRC), the All Assam Students� Union (AASU) has alleged that certain pro-foreigner forces are still trying to either disrupt or delay the process. The students� body, however, said that the people of Assam have full faith on the Supreme Court, which is monitoring the process of updating the NRC.
AASU chief adviser Samujjal Bhattacharya told The Assam Tribune that the process of updating the NRC reached its final stage only because of constant monitoring by the Supreme Court. �We are fortunate that the Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi is personally monitoring the progress and that is why, so far, the work is going on smoothly,� he added.
Bhattacharya alleged that since the beginning of the process, certain forces were desperately trying to protect the interests of the foreigners living illegally in Assam and such forces are still trying to disrupt the process and create confusion in the minds of the people. He said that the Government should take strong action against anyone found to be involved in such conspiracy.
The AASU chief adviser pointed out that the verification of the documents submitted along with claims and objections are in the final stage and appealed to all the officers and employees involved in the process including the State NRC Coordinator, Deputy Commissioners, Additional Deputy Commissioners, Circle officers and others to ensure that no foreign national can get his or her name included in the NRC with false or forged documents. He said that in several parts of the State, rackets involved in preparation of forged documents for the benefit of foreign nationals have been detected, which proved beyond doubt that foreigners are still trying to get their names included in the NRC with forged documents.
Bhattacharya said that the Central and State Governments should also play their parts in this regard and extend full cooperation to the process in national interest. Security of the officers and employees engaged in the process must be ensured and strong action should be taken against anyone found to be involved in attempts to disrupt the process and spreading rumours to create confusion in the minds of people, he demanded.
It may be mentioned here that the process of verification of claims and objections on the draft of the NRC is in its final stage and only yesterday, the NRC authorities published an additional draft where names of 1.02 lakh people, whose names were included in the draft and later found to be ineligible for inclusion in the NRC were deleted. However, those people would get an opportunity to file claims and the process of submission of claims and hearings would start from July 5 so that the final NRC can be published by the stipulated time frame of July 31.
