When the thief himself surrenders!

NRC update

Staff Reporter

Guwahati, April 23: In the wake of the tightening of documents verification process in the run-up to the second and final draft publication of the updated NRC in the State, some people who had misused family tree to get their names registered in the NRC are now coming out voluntarily to accept their fault by conveying the same to the respective NRC update officials.

Interestingly, such cases have mostly sprung up from Dhubri district, one of the districts in the State that is allegedly home to hordes of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. 

Forced by the stringency of the documents verification process, some individuals are now making self-declaration as to their use of others’ family trees for entry into the updated NRC – a case of a thief surrendering before being caught red-handed! It is possible that some of these people could indeed be illegal Bangladeshis.

There have been a total of 48 lakh family tree mismatches in the State, and verification is on at present, which must be over by May 31 as per the Supreme Court directive.

When The Sentinel contacted NRC update officials in Dhubri, they said, “Wrong family tree information by some applicants could be by mistake or intentional. In rural areas, however, some are not fully aware of the details about form-filling etc.”

Sources said those who wrongly provided family tree documents will not be entered in the final draft NRC, but they have the scope to re-apply with proper documents, and if these are found to be genuine, they will be accepted in the NRC.

Speaking to The Sentinel on Monday, State NRC Coordinator Prateek Hajela said, “Family tree mismatch verification is on. About 65% of family mismatches have been resolved, while about 15% of panchayat document verification is over. Let me assure the people of Assam that the updated NRC will be error-free as well as free from the names of illegal immigrants. No Indian citizen in Assam, at the same time, will be left out.”

Meanwhile, Dhubri police on Sunday arrested two persons – gaon panchayat secretary Swapan Dutta and PWD employee Fiddush Zaman – on charges of bribery in connection with the ongoing NRC update process. They had reportedly taken bribe to enter some dubious names in the NRC.