Documents, not ‘community’ criteria for NRC inclusion: Cachar DC

GUWAHATI: Cachar Deputy Commissioner S Lakshmanan on Monday said there was no question of non-inclusion of people residing in Barak Valley in the complete draft National Register of Citizens if the documents supporting their citizenship were submitted to the NRC authorities.
To a question on the issue of Khasi residents of Barak Valley not being included in the draft as claimed during the KSU-AASU meeting in Shillong on Sunday, Lakshmanan said the NRC draft is updated on the basis of verification of the documents given.
“When we make the NRC, we are not looking at the tribe or people. Whosoever has applied has been verified on the basis of documentary support produced before the authorities and accordingly accepted or rejected,” the deputy commissioner told The Shillong Times on Monday.
“As such, I may not be able to tell you whether ‘some Khasi people’ may have been included or excluded in the draft. Some may not have applied even. So this is a baseless claim and a non-specific issue. We can definitely verify if the person not included submits his name and application receipt number. Otherwise, it is difficult to say,” he added.
NRC coordinator for Assam Prateek Hajela could not be contacted for a comment in this regard.