GUWAHATI, June 6 – A nine-member delegation of Assam Congress Legislature Party (ACLP) led by Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Debabrata Saikia met the State Coordinator of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) Prateek Hajela at the latter’s office here today and discussed thoroughly the developments concerning updating of the vital document.
Saikia said in a statement here today that he has doubts about the likelihood of the completion of the NRC updating process by December 31 next – the date fixed by the Supreme Court as the deadline for the exercise.

Though initially in 2014 the cost for updating the document was estimated to be Rs 288 crore, in March this year the estimated cost was revised to be Rs 905 crore and the Union Government agreed to bear the same.

So far, an amount of Rs 653 crore has been spent on updating the document. The Union Government released over Rs 250 crore for the purpose in March last. But, the State Government has not released the funds for the purpose in time and this has resulted in a stalemate.

There is enough scope to doubt that this situation is a product of the design of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led governments both in the State and at the Centre to create a favourable condition for the rehabilitation of the post-1971 Bengali Hindu migrants entering the State from Bangladesh, said Saikia.

The delegation also included ACLP deputy leader Rakibul Hussain, chief whip Wazed Ali Choudhury, spokesman Abdul Khalek, treasurer Rupjyoti Kurmi, Dr Nazrul Islam, Nandita Das, Illias Ali and Nurul Huda.

Posted on Assam Tribune, The Sentinel News