Assam: Govt Seeks Re-Verification Of 20% NRC Data, While Flood Victims Refuse To Leave Home In Fear Of Being Excluded

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have not been successful in convincing Rina Begum and her family to leave their half-flooded house at Tulsibari village in Assam, for the past two days, reported The Indian Express (TIE) on July 17. Along with Rina Begum, several other families refuse to vacate their houses as they fear if they leave their house, they will lose their right to claim that they belonged to the area.

Amid all the insecurities among people of Assam, the Centre and State Government on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court for re-verification of 20 percent of the names included in the NRC draft published on July 30, 2018. The government also urged the court “to suitably modify the timeline fixed for publication of the final from 31st July 2019 to a future date”.

Residents Fear That They May Never Return To Their Houses

With only a fortnight ahead of the publication of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state, residents are fearing if they will return anytime after leaving their houses.

Other families who have agreed to be transferred to a safer location, have done so by making sure that their documents are secure. “So many times, we brought them to safety only to go back again because they realise they have forgotten their documents,” told Parvesh Kumar, an NDRF rescuer, to The Indian Express.

Government Seeks Re-verification of 20% Data

The government pleas advised the apex court for “directing 20% sample re-verification of names included in the final draft in districts of Assam bordering Bangladesh and a 10% sample re-verification of names in the remaining districts”. They urged the court to conduct a re-verification of Class I officers of the state government at a place different from the one where NRC exercise took place.

Earlier, responding to an affidavit by the Assam government, the court said: “We are of the view that the court should consider the necessity of carrying out the sample re-verification of at least 10% of the names included in the final draft NRC”.

Following the court’s order dated August 28, 2018, the Assam government demanded re-verification of samples as well as “constitution of a High-Level Committee for identification of criteria and prepare guidelines for re-verification exercise to be carried out by the State Coordinator and monitor the same closely.”

Further, the Center’s plea states that the list prepared after the exercise will be final and have a critical impact on the people whose names will be excluded from the list. Therefore, it is pertinent that “the exercise of sample verification must necessarily follow before the publication of the final list”.

Stating that the sample re-verification is being sought for both inclusions and exclusions, the government in the plea pointed out that 2,89,83,677 people were included in the final draft, while only 2 lakh objections were filed.

Also, Read Assam: Additional Draft Exclusion List Of NRC Published, Over 1 Lakh Names Excluded