Foreigners will not make it into NRC, says coordinator

Many have tweaked their names, changed addresses and even changed their identities

People who have cases pending against them in the Foreigners Tribunal, will not find a place in the final National Register of Citizens (NRC), but no genuine Indian citizens will be left out, NRC state coordinator Prateek Hajela said yesterday.

He said the names of some “foreigners” have entered the NRC final draft published on July 30, as they concealed the fact that they had cases pending against them in the Foreigners’ Tribunal.

Besides, many have tweaked their names, changed addresses and even changed their identities, he said. “The names of people whose cases are pending in the Foreigners Tribunal will have no place in the final list,” Hajela told PTI here.

The NRC in Assam is being prepared under the supervision of the Supreme Court and the completed draft was published on July 30, in which the names of 2.89 crore residents have been included out of the 3.29 crore applicants. The names of 40 lakh applicants have been excluded from the final draft.

On August 2, an official had said the names of 200 suspected foreigners belonging to 39 families had made it to the NRC draft that was released in Morigaon district. He said the matter was detected during the printing process of the draft in the district. Hajela said: “We will continue to track the cases pending in the Foreigners’ Tribunal and if it declares them as foreigners, their names will not be included.” But the names of all Indians will be included in the final list, he added.