The Assam Congress alleged that people, issued notices to appear for verification of their documents on flimsy grounds, are “coerced to move at very short notice”, lest their names are struck off the National Register of Citizens (NRC) that is being updated in Assam, The Hindu reported.
A team of Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) leaders led by president Ripun Bora on Friday met NRC State Coordinator Prateek Hajela and submitted a memorandum for checking “harassment of people in the name of verification of documents” for preparation of the Supreme Court-monitored NRC.
The Congress claimed the citizens, primarily in remote rural areas low on literacy, were being subjected to harassment and that the entire exercise is executed in haste.
“There seems to be a never-ending issuance of notices and circulars to various districts for citizens to appear in remote corners of the State for verification of their documents,” the memorandum signed by Bora said.
“The system put in place by the State Coordinator of NRC is fundamentally flawed and if this mode of functioning is allowed to continue, it will snowball into a major humanitarian crisis and the people will be forced to take to the streets,” it said.
The Congress also referred to complaints about incompetence of officials at the verification centres in processing the documents, besides shortage of people for doing the job without any glitch.
“It appears that the State Coordinator for NRC is acting under the direct instruction of the ruling State government, which has its own agenda,” added the Congress president , demanding an end to the practice of calling people to verification centres at very short notice.
The nine-point memorandum submitted by the Congress includes the appointment of sensitised personnel at the verification centres to help poor and illiterate people who have no clue about the NRC updating process.