GUWAHATI: After the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) detected large-scale anomalies in the updation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, some organisations renewed the demand for re-verification of the citizens’ list and stringent punishment of those responsible for the mess.
The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) described them as enemies of the state and said the people would never forgive them.
“The demand for the updation of the NRC was raised to safeguard the state’s indigenous population. The government should give exemplary punishment to those who indulged in corruption and committed anomalies in the NRC process,” the AASU said in a statement.
The students’ organisation said it had earlier moved the Supreme Court seeking a Bangladeshi immigrants-free NRC. It said the decision to update the NRC was taken after a movement by the people of Assam.
“The AASU is not happy over how the NRC was updated. A minute examination of the list is imperative for an error-free NRC. The Centre and the Assam government can approach the Supreme Court seeking re-verification of the list. Only this can ensure a correct NRC,” the statement further said.
“We will not rest till we get a correct NRC,” Samujjal Bhattacharya, who is the chief advisor to the AASU, said.
The Assam Public Works (APW), an NGO which had first moved the apex court seeking the updation of the NRC of 1951, alleged the then NRC coordinator Prateek Hajela was solely responsible for the mess.
“Prateek Hajela had told people in Assam that everything is being monitored by the Supreme Court. He misled the court,” APW president Abhijeet Sharma said.
Hitesh Dev Sarma, who succeeded Hajela, had filed two FIRs with the CID of police and the Vigilance and Anti-corruption Wing earlier, alleging corruption and money laundering by his predecessor.
In its report for 2020 submitted to the state Assembly on Saturday, the CAG said it was due to a lack of proper planning that 215 software utilities were added haphazardly to the core software used for updating the document.
The report said highly secure software was needed for the updation exercise but due process was not followed either for the development of software or the selection of vendors. The “improper” software development, related to data capture and correction, had left room for data tampering, the report said, adding the project cost of Rs 288.18 crore escalated to Rs 1,602.66 crore due to time overrun.