GUWAHATI: The "complete draft" of National Register of Citizens (NRC) will not be published by June 30, a deadline earlier set by the Supreme Court under whose direct monitoring the document is being updated in Assam. NRC state coordinator, Prateek Hajela, told The New Indian Express that the SC would fix the next date at a hearing on July 2. The reason why the NRC authorities have not been able to complete the updation work is the recent floods in the state.
"We won't be able to do it (publish the complete draft) by June 30. We will seek fresh date from the court on July 2 when the next date of hearing is scheduled," he said. He also said that some ten days were wasted by the floods in central Assam's two districts and all three districts in southern Assam's Barak Valley. "Only a small amount of the work is to be completed. As such, we are optimistic about publishing the document within a very short time. However, how many more days we will get to complete the work is something to be decided by the Supreme Court," Hajela added.
The first draft NRC, which was published on December 31 last year, had the names of 1.9 crore of 3.29 crore applicants. Once the complete draft is published, people, whose names will not figure in it, will get a window period of one month to submit claims and objections, following which the final NRC will be published.
The NRC is being updated based on March 24 (midnight), 1971 as the cut-off date. This ideally means the immigrants, who came to India after March 24 (midnight), 1971, will be viewed as illegal citizens.
According to the estimates of local groups and organisations, Assam has 20 lakh to 50 lakh illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.