Assam: Is NRC coordinator fit for the job? Barpeta MLA asks govt

Guwahati: Given the recent anomalies regarding the NRC data and the data going missing for several days triggering panic among the public, questions are being raised in the Assam Assembly if the newly appointed NRC state coordinator is fit for the job he has been entrusted with. If not, then he should be replaced.

Raising the issue on the floor of the Assam Assembly, Sherman Ali Ahmed, the MLA from Barpeta, on Monday said that in case he is not fit, then the government should “quash his appointment and appoint a different person”.

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“In view of the seriousness of the issue, doesn’t the government think that the person steering the process of NRC preparation should be secular, law-abiding, having respect to the constitutional provisions… If yes, is the newly appointed NRC co-ordinator fit for the purpose? If not, would the government be pleased to quash his appointment and appoint a different person who is endowed with the requisite qualities for dealing with such a serious issue?” Ahmed asked.

Replying to the query on behalf of chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Assam industries and commerce minister Chandra Mohan Patowary said that the present co-ordinator Hitesh Dev Sarma is fit for the purpose and he is secular and law-abiding.

The Assam NRC office drew a lot of flak recently as the data went offline due to non-payment of dues to Wipro, the company that the government had tied up with for the maintenance of the crucial NRC data.