Assam NRC data safe, technical issue in visibility on Cloud: Home Ministry rejects reports about 'malafide act'

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Wednesday (February 12, 2020) said that the data of the final list of the National Register of Citizens in Assam is completely safe after the crucial data went offline from its official website. The Home Ministry further said that there is some technical issue behind it, which is being fully resolved. ''The NRC data is safe, there is some technical issue in visibility on Cloud. It is being resolved soon,'' a Home Ministry statement said.

The statement came after reports emerged that all data of the final list of the NRC has been made offline from the govt's official website due to non-renewal of the contract with the IT firm Wipro, prompting the Congress-led opposition to doubt it as a "malafide act". The complete detail of exclusion and inclusion of bonafide Indian citizens in the NRC was uploaded on its official website 'www.Nrcassam.Nic.In' after the final list was published on August 31, 2019.

However, the data was not available for the last couple of days and it created panic in the public, mostly among the people excluded from the list as the rejection certificates were yet to be issued. When contacted, NRC State Coordinator Hitesh Dev Sarma accepted that the data have been made offline, but refuted the allegation of any "malafide" intent in it.

Reacting to the development, Leader of the Opposition in Assam Assembly Debabrata Saikia wrote to the Registrar General of India and requested him to look into the matter urgently.

The final NRC was published by excluding 19,06,657 persons. A total of 3,11,21,004 names were included out of 3,30,27,661 applicants.

After the earlier NRC State Coordinator Prateek Hajela was released on November 11 following his transfer to home state Madhya Pradesh on a direction from the Supreme Court, Sarma was appointed in his place on November 9.

However, Sarma did not join immediately and went on a month-long leave after the Congress and other organisations opposed his appointment due to his alleged "highly partial and controversial" posts on social media.