GUWAHATI: Retired IAS officer and former state NRC coordinator Hitesh Dev Sarma has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to order an Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe into an alleged Rs 260 crore National Register of Citizens (NRC) updating scam in Assam.
Referring to a CAG inspection report covering the period from January 12, 2014, to December 31, 2019, Sarma wrote to PM Modi, revealing that out of Rs 260 crore, Rs 155.83 crore was diverted from the salaries of data entry operators who were paid below minimum wage rates.
“The CAG has fixed responsibility for these anomalies on then-state NRC coordinator Prateek Hajela,” Sarma stated.
He further alleged that despite facing the Public Accounts Committee, Hajela was allowed to take voluntary retirement, effectively relieving him from all charges.
Sarma noted that although multiple FIRs were lodged regarding the issue, Assam Police has yet to register any of them.
Sarma also advocated for a National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe if foreign money was involved in the NRC process.
Detailing the timeline, Sarma explained that he took over as the state coordinator after Hajela’s departure and discovered numerous errors in the NRC update process.
He also alleged that in 2016, Hajela’s discretionary actions began undermining the effort to detect illegal foreigners in Assam through the NRC as per the Supreme Court’s order.
“The complete NRC draft was published in July 2018, with a supplementary list in August 2019. Despite this, significant errors persisted,” Sarma added, noting that he took charge in December 2019.
Sarma accused data entry operators of intentionally mismatching family trees to include suspected foreigners.
He substantiated his claim by saying that of 2,346 data entries cross-checked, 943 family trees were mismatched, suggesting a deliberate act to include ineligible names.
Highlighting further irregularities, Sarma said that around 50,000 genuine Indian citizens were missing from the NRC based on his sample checks.
He reported these issues to the Assam government and the Registrar General of India (RGI), advocating for a re-verification of the NRC but the RGI instructed apparently instructed him to prepare for the final NRC publication without re-verification, Sarma claimed.
Sarma expressed frustration over the lack of action towards re-verifying the NRC, stressing the urgent need for re-verification before the final NRC publication to ensure national security and integrity.
