Peace prevails post-NRC

A woman browses through an NRC draft list published at an NRC
seva kendra in Guwahati on Monday.  Picture by UB Photos

TT, Jan 01, 2018, Guwahati: he first day of publication of part draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) passed off peacefully in Assam. People visited NRC seva kendras and websites or sent sms throughout the day to check if their names were on the list.

The names of 1.9 crore people were published at midnight on Sunday in Guwahati. Altogether 3.29 crore people from 68.27 lakh families had applied to update their names in the NRC.

The names of several people, including leaders of political parties and students' organisations, did not figure in the first list. The leaders said they were not worried and requested people whose names did not figure on the list not to be worried either as the document verification process is yet to be completed and another part of the draft yet to be published.

Among those whose names did not figure on Monday's list are AIUDF president Badruddin Ajmal, former Congress MLA Abu Taher Bepari, former Congress minister Ardhendu Dey, BJP legislator Ashwini Ray Sarkar and Dhubri MLA Najrul Hoque. Hoque was seen calmly explaining to people in an NRC seva kendra in his constituency what to do if one's name was not in the draft NRC.

The name of Ulfa (Independent) commander-in-chief Paresh Barua as well as that of five other members of his family, including his late mother Miliki Barua, featured on the list while the names of his wife and two sons did not.

The name of Azizur Rahman, president of the All Assam Minority Students' Union, which had stalled the pilot project of updating the NRC in 2010, was not on the list. "I am not worried as the government is yet to publish another part of the draft. We have faith in the Supreme Court which is monitoring the update process," he said.

A part of the draft NRC, which is being updated in Assam, was made available online from midnight and from 8am at NRC seva kendras. Till 2pm on Monday, NRC office sent 2,63,000 messages to people who had registered for their SMS service to know their inclusion on the draft NRC.

The office of NRC coordinator has opened eight more websites to help people check their names. The websites are www.partdraftnrcassam.in, www.partdraftnrcassam.com, www.draftnrcassam.net, www.partdraftnrcassam.net, www.draftnrcassam.in, www.draftnrcassam.com, www.nrcassamonline.net, www.nrcassamonline.in.

There were numerous spelling mistakes in the names published. Amiruz Zaman was perplexed at finding the spellings of his and his daughter's names wrong. Worse, nobody at the NRC seva kendra near Hatigaon police station in Guwahati could say what needs to be done to get it rectified.

"My name appeared as Amiruz Zamin instead of Zaman and that of my daughter as Tanwar Zamin instead of Tanweer Zaman," Zaman, a teacher in a private coaching institute, told The Telegraph.