Assam Congress alleges almost 90% people from 'certain pockets', left out of NRC draft

Guwahati: The Assam Congress on Thursday alleged that 90 percent of people belonging to religious and linguistic minorities in certain pockets of 13 districts of the state have been left out in the first draft of the National Register of Citizens and demanded an inquiry into it. Verification has not been done properly in 208 NRC Seva Kendras of 13 districts and as a result the names of only 10 percent of population of those areas appeared in the NRC, APCC president Ripun Bora alleged. [caption id=“attachment_4283263” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] NRC Seva Kendras are help desks set up for specific areas in each district to assist the people in searching documents related to citizenship and to receive NRC application forms. “It reveals that religious and linguistic minorities are predominant in these 13 districts and this very slow progress of verification and updating was not traced at the regular monitoring system,” Bora wrote to the Registrar General of India, which is updating the NRC. “Therefore, I demand an inquiry into this matter,” Bora, a Rajya Sabha MP, said in the letter. Though verification of the remaining applications would be taken up in the second phase, it is still a matter of serious concern that in those Seva Kendras of 13 districts, names of 90 percent people have been left out, he said. The districts he mentioned are: Darrang, Morigaon, Nagaon, Goalpara, Dhubri, Cachar, Kaimgnaj, Hailakandi, Kokrajhar, Barpeta, Mankachar, Nalbari and Bongaigaon. Bora demanded that a complete and foolproof verification of all the remaining applications be taken up and the final copy published soon. He assured the Registrar General full cooperation of the Congress in preparing an error-free NRC by incorporating the names of all Indian citizens living in Assam. The NRC of 1951 is being updated in Assam under the supervision of the Supreme Court to identify original residents of the state in order to check illegal migration. Its first draft was published on 31 December midnight.