Assam heralds in New Year & NRC

Publication of first part draft on New Year's Day evokes widespread public enthusiasm

By Our Staff Reporter

Guwahati, Jan 1: Even as people in rest of the world were busy reveling to herald in the New Year, a vast section of Assam’s population were on the edge trying to figure out whether their mes featured in the first part draft of tiol Register of Citizens (NRC).

And the sheer enthusiasm among a section of people could be gauged from the fact that though the authority concerned made arrangements to provide mes online, all the four websites crashed within a few minutes since the draft was published post midnight owing to huge volume of traffic. Of course, they were later restored. 

The office of State Coorditor for NRC also provided altertive links to access their mes on Monday afternoon – www.partdraftnrcassam.in, www.partdraftnrcassam.com, www.draftnrcassam.net, www.partdraftnrcassam.net, www.draftnrcassam.in, www.draftnrcassam.com, www.nrcassamonline.net and www.nrcassamonline. in. These are in addition to the four links provided earlier – www.nrcassam.nic.in, www.assam.mygov.in, www.assamgov.in and www.homeandpolitical. assam.gov.in. 

Similarly, though mobile numbers were provided for individuals to register themselves by sending SMS, the exercise too met virtually the same fate as few complained of not having received any information on their mobile.

Huge rush was also reported from many NRC seva kendras (NSKs) in different parts of the State as people queued up since early Monday to check whether their mes featured in the maiden part draft of NRC. Hard copies were made available in the 2,500 odd NSKs from 8 am. 

However, much to the relief of both New Delhi and Dispur, no untoward incident was reported from any part of the State post NRC maiden draft publication as was feared. Nonetheless, the security agencies are keeping a hawk-eye vigil on the ground to tackle any trouble. 

Undoubtedly one of the largest such exercises ever carried out in any corner of the globe thus far to verify residency status of citizens that involved verification of approximately 6.50 crore documents, the first part draft of NRC was published post midnight of 31st December at the behest of the Supreme Court. And, as already reported, out of the 2.38 crore individuals whose documents were supposed to be checked and their mes published after verification at the directive of the apex court, mes of 1.9 crore individuals made it to the maiden draft. 

On the other hand, with the first part draft of NRC having been published on New Year’s Day, the State Coorditor for NRC and Registrar General of India (RGI) are now all set to submit a status report to the Supreme Court. The apex court will next take up hearing of the NRC case on 20th February, during which it is expected to decide on its second and fil draft. 

Meanwhile, late receipt of documents sent to other States for verification has remained a matter of concern to NRC updating authority. Of the approximately 5.53 documents sent to other States for verification, only about 1.58 lakh have been returned by other State governments. Holding of a special briefing of officials of the States concerned in Guwahati last year, in which they were explained about the objective of the exercise, has also not helped matters as the verification process from such States continues to be tardy. 

Now, faced with such a situation, both RGI and State NRC Coorditor are expected to urge the Supreme Court to issue a directive to such States to speed up the exercise. 

Altogether 3.29 crore individuals had applied for inclusion in NRC and 6.50 crore documents were submitted as supporting documents to prove their legacies and residency proof. And verification of almost 98% of documents pertaining to Assam has been completed already, sources claimed. 

Further, 48 lakh people had submitted panchayat documents, of which 19 were determined as “origil inhabitants” and were included in first part draft of NRC. So, verification of the remaining 29 lakh individuals remained. Again, of this, 1.5 lakh were males and have as such been rejected. Now, with publication of the maiden draft, panchayat documents submitted by married women as supporting linkage proof will be examined as per the Supreme Court directive. 

According to State NRC Coorditor Prateek Hajela, the process of scrutinising panchayat documents will now commence. “With the first stage having been completed, we will now start working for the second phase, which will include verification of panchayat documents,” he added.

Hajela also allayed any fears vis-à-vis non-inclusion of mes in first part draft. He explained: “Let there be no constertion among anyone on not finding their mes. We will communicate as and when the process of claims will begin. It’s our responsibility to ensure that mes of no genuine Indians are left out.”

Stating that work for publishing the second and fil draft of NRC will be speeded up, the State Coorditor, however, added that its date will be determined by the Supreme Court. 

He also informed this reporter that if any individual’s me is wrongly spelt, he or she can apply for correction of their mes to the offices of Deputy Commissioners and Revenue Circle Officers, besides local NSKs.

It may be motioned that altogether 174 police cases were registered in various parts of the State over submission of forged documents by individuals. 

Top Headlines

No stories found.
Sentinel Assam
www.sentinelassam.com