GUWAHATI: As Assam gears up for the upcoming Lok Sabha Election, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has sounded a cautionary note, declaring that it’s time for those who fraudulently entered their names in the National Registration Certificate (NRC) to be vigilant.
The Assam government has initiated efforts to identify and rectify names that have allegedly been fraudulently added to the National Register of Citizens (NRC) list.
Speaking on Swahid Divas, Sarma emphasised the need for transparency in the NRC process. He warned, “If officials within the Assam government undermine the NRC with inducements like pots of curd and local chicken, the nation will never stand on its own feet. We have once again strived to make the NRC transparent, and those who manipulated their entries should be careful.”
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“It is because this government does not consider that any system is safe. It regards only one provision as absolute, the protection of Assamese society. And that is why our government has already started a concerted effort to identify the national citizens for those who have entered their names with fake documents and fake papers.”
However, Abhijit Sharma, representing the Assam Public Works (APW) and the original petitioner in the Supreme Court for the NRC update, raised concerns about the Chief Minister’s statements. Sharma questioned the delay in filing affidavits for re-verification, highlighting allegations of corruption among lower government employees and a 260-crore scam involving the main state coordinator, Prateek Hazela.
He told The New Indian, “It is strange that the Chief Minister of Assam was saying something about irregularities or some government officials entering names in the NRC. Because from 2019 we are shouting about re-verification and the government of Assam is also talking about re-verification but till date they have not filed a single affidavit to supreme court for revivification, first of all.
“Second of all, the lower government employees have done corruption, taking bribes and entering names in the NRC of illegal foreigners but what about the main state coordinator Prattek Hazela, who was the main culprit. There was a 260 crore scam in the enrolment process of Chief Minister of Assam and the CAG has named Prateek hazela as accused.
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“From the very beginning we are seeing that 80 lakhs Bangladeshi names have been entered in the NRC but unless and until the government of Assam doesn’t file an affidavit for the re-verification, no one can do anything.”
Meanwhile, the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee Spokesperson Abdul Aziz has accused the government of orchestrating the NRC issue for political gains ahead of elections. “The Assam government and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma have done nothing regarding the development of Assam and since the elections are coming near that is why they are bringing out the NRC.
“During the time of Sarbananda Sonowal’s government when it first started, a lot of scams occurred and the Government didn’t take any actions. What was the Government doing? Where are they sleeping? They are equally responsible for their employee’s scams. Everyone knows that the verification which took place for the NRC was full of irregularities and the whole NRC was just an election agenda,” he told The New Indian.
The final updated NRC for Assam, published on August 31, 2019, excluded approximately 1.9 million applicants, sparking controversy.
In December 2022, an audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India revealed irregularities, including the exclusion of indigenous people, fund misuse, and software selection issues, leading to a substantial increase in project costs from Rs 288.18 crore in 2014 to Rs 1,602.66 crore by March 2022.
