Guwahati, Feb. 24: Opposition leader Debabrata Saikia has written to Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal requesting him not to transfer officers involved in the National Registrar of Citizens (NRC) update to avoid delay in the process.

“It is learnt that officers engaged in the NRC update process are being transferred, which has brought work to a halt. The new officers will not be able to catch up,” Saikia said in his letter to Sonowal early this month.

The letter has come at a time the Opposition has been accusing the BJP-led government of delaying the NRC update process.

Saikia told Sonowal that it was come to his notice that the circle officer of Nazira, who had been holding the charge of NRC update, was being transferred. “I recall the government under your leadership instructing the government departments not to transfer officers involved in the NRC process to avoid delay,” the letter said.

Sonowal on February 20 told Union finance minister Arun Jaitley that the NRC update process had reached an “extremely advanced” stage in Assam and 92 per cent of the documents had already been verified.

Sonowal requested Jaitley to accord early sanction of revised costs estimates of Rs 905.72 crore for the process in Assam.

By Rajiv Konwar The Telegraph