Guwahati, Jan 1: As the Assam government on Sunday recognised 1.9 crore people as legal citizens of India, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal urged ‘genuine’ citizens who had been left out not to panic saying that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) is only a part draft.
“This is only a part draft of the NRC being published on December 31 midnight, as per directions of the Supreme Court. If the names of genuine Indian citizens are left out, there is enough provision to submit claims and objections to get their names included in the final NRC,” CM Sarbananda Sonawal, as reported by Indian Express, said.
“The government is keeping a close watch on the use of social media like Facebook, Twitter etc. Strict action will be taken against anyone who is found spreading misinformation and trying to foment trouble,” he added. NRC State Coordinator Prateek Hajela also said those people whose names have been excluded in the first list need not worry.
“It is a tedious process to verify the names. So there is a possibility that some names within a single family may not be there in the first draft,” said Hajela. “There is no need to panic as rest of the documents are under verification,” he said.
The Assam government published the first draft of NRC on Sunday midnight with the names of 1.9 crore people out of the 3.29 crore total applicants. According to the Registrar General of India Sailesh, the rest of the names are under various stages of verification.
The copies of the first draft of NRC will be on display at all the 25,000-odd NRC Sewa Kendras (NSK) across the state from 8 am today. The NRC will also be available online on four specific websites. 50 additional companies of central forces have been deployed in the state to check law and order situation.
The application process started in May 2015 and a total of 6.5 crore documents were received from 68.27 lakh families across Assam. Assam, which faced influx from Bangladesh since the early 20th century, is the only state having an NRC, first prepared in 1951.
The Supreme Court, which is monitoring the entire process, had ordered that the first draft of the NRC be published by December 31 after completing the scrutiny of over two crore claims along with that of around 38 lakh people whose documents were suspect.