Touts in Assam charge Rs 8,000 to get illegal immigrants into NRC

New Delhi, Oct 30: All it took was Rs 8,000 for this man from Bangladesh to get a fake eligibility certificate, a requirement to be included in the National Register of Citizen (NRC).

This concern comes in the wake of the NRC 1951 being updated in Assam. The interim report found that 40.07 lakh persons out of the 3.29 crore applicants did not make it to the NRC. The draft document was released on June 30 this year based on the directive of the Supreme Court of India.

With so many names missing in the draft NRC, the touts in Assam have sprung into action. They are charging Rs 8,000 for a fake eligibility certificate, one of the accepted documents for the name to be in the NRC.

A report prepared by Prateek Hajela, the NRC coordinator cites the example of a person who goes by the name Nikhil Das. He submitted his documents in the Cachar district of Assam to incite his name and four of his family members in the NRC.

During the verification it had been found except him, the rest were living in Kachua village of Sunamganj district, which borders Bangladesh. The report states that he had illegally come into India through the border in Tripura. He then reached Silchar in Assam with his uncle. He has sought a fake eligibility certificate, for which he contacted a lawyer, who demanded Rs 8,000. With the help of the fake document, he managed to obtain a fake birth certificate, PAN card, voter ID card and Aadhaar.

The report also goes on to state the touts are sneaking in illegal immigrants with the help of refugee registration and citizenship certificates. These were the certificates that were issued by the Assam government to migrants from Bangladesh.

The NRC coordinator while raising serious concerns about the frauds being committed sought for a comprehensive probe into the matter. The investigation conducted by the police has revealed that there have been nearly 484 cases of forgery committed relating to the NRC.

"It is humbly submitted that in the interest of an error-free NRC or even in the background of a problem of illegal immigration, it will be desirable that a comprehensive probe be conducted regarding submission of forged documents by applicants and issue of bogus documents by various public authorities," the report said.

The report was submitted in support of his stand in the Supreme Court that five documents including citizenship certificates and refugee registration certificate should not be accepted for submission of claims by those who could not make it to the draft