Assam to approach SC for Aadhaar to NRC applicants

The Assam government will file an Interlocutory Application in Supreme Court for providing Aadhaar cards to National Register of Citizens (NRC) applicants whose biometrics have been locked in the updating process of the citizenship document. The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, here on Wednesday evening.

Later Sarma tweeted: “Approval to filing of an IA (Interlocutory Application) in the Supreme Court for relaxation of Para 9 of the SOP and for providing Aadhaar cards to NRC applicants whose Aadhaar cards are kept on hold because of existing SOP.” This, he said, will benefit a large section of people below poverty line, students, pensioners, job seekers who do not have Aadhaar cards. Over 27 lakh NRC applicants in the state had submitted their biometrics during the claims and objections phase for updating the state’s NRC. Of these 19 lakh names were not included in the final draft of the NRC published on August 31, 2019, and these people are now facing problems in generating Aadhaar as their biometrics have been locked due to a Supreme Court directive.

The apex court is overseeing the NRC updating process. The state government had said in the Assembly last month that it has written at least twice to the Centre in the last two years requesting them to allow the Aadhaar card issuing authority to access the biometrics of at least those people whose names had figured in the NRC final draft. During the meeting a cabinet sub-committee was formed to discuss the way forward with different organisations by the state government and the meeting approved was given to the proposed Assam State Bridge Infrastructure Project (ASBIP) at an estimated cost of Rs 4,360 crore.

ASBIP will encompass 1,085 minor and major maintenance of bridges, capacity expansion of bridges, conversion of timber bridges to RCC bridges among others. Approval was also given to Chief Minister’s Scheme for Public Emergency under which monetary assistance to individuals or organisations can be given where budget allocation is not adequate or available. Compensation to victims of conflict, flood and fire, monetary award to public servants for exceptional service, financial support to sports, cultural or academic icons, infrastructure support to socio-cultural and academic institutions for which regular budget is not adequate or available will also be covered by this fund. To provide respite to low-end domestic consumers from hike in retail tariff, approval was given to targeted subsidy for power consumers from May 10, 2022, which will benefit around 60 lakh households in the state.

The cabinet also approved land for the Royal Bhutanese Consulate General Office at Dimoria under Sonapur Revenue Circle and for establishment of a battalion camp of CRPF at Chhaygaon Panthan under Chhaygaon Revenue Circle. It authorised deputy commissioners to allot or transfer government land in rural areas to state and central government undertakings, statutory bodies, parastatals, etc., without prior government approval. The Cabinet also approved sanction of Rs 108 crore for Assam Microfinance Incentive and Relief Scheme (AMFIRS) 2021.