Assam: Panic among NRC applicants as birth certificates disappear from South Salmara PHC

25 July 2018:

Doctor, Grade IV employee arrested by police, InsideNe impact

A doctor and a Grade IV employee of the South Salmara Primary Health Centre (PHC) were arrested on Tuesday hours after two persons, including an advocate of Gauhati High Court Anisur Rahman, had filed an FIR with South Salmara police stating that the PHC had no birth records for 25 years. He had also alleged that a section of the PHC officials was making an attempt to destroy the birth-related documents to hide their wrongdoing.

Soon after he had filed the FIR, the Grade IV employee Nagar Ali was caught red handed burning the documents. Later, he was arrested along with Dr Abdul Azad Ali of the PHC.

In the wake of the incident, there is now a widespread apprehension that the names of thousands of people, who were born in the PHC from 1985-2010, will not figure in the “complete draft”” of National Register of Citizens (NRC) which is due for publication on July 30.

However, South Salmara-Mancachar Superintendent of Police, Amrit Bhuyan, told InsideNe: “Birth certificate is one of the documents needed to prove citizenship”. He sought to imply that citizenship could be proved through other documents.

He said Deputy Commissioner Atika Sultana had ordered a magisterial enquiry into the case.

Advocate Rahman alleged: “Some officials of the South Salmara PHC have for long been running an illegal business by issuing back-dated birth certificates in lieu of cash. I demand that all those, who are involved in it, are arrested and punished as per the law”.

“As there are no records of births of people in the PHC for 25 years, I demand that the government should provide alternative birth certificates to those who were issued the documents by the PHC from 1985 to 2010. Birth certificate is a vital document to prove citizenship. Now that there are no records of births of people at the PHC for 25 years, they fear that their names may not include in the NRC,” Rahman added.

Earlier, in response to an RTI application, the authorities said: “All birth and death certificates (at the PHC) were damaged till July 2010 by a devastating flood and incessant rainfall along with cyclone”.

In their FIR, the complainants Rahman and Azaharul Islam had written “…When NRC officials approached the PHC officials during the verification of certificates, the PHC officials replied that the records were not available with them from 1985-2010 and the same was washed out…From 2010, the hospital authority issued a number of birth certificates using one serial number. In this regard, we approached the higher authority several times but no action was taken. Being concerned people of the area, we were compelled to lodge the FIR seeking a fair investigation”.

It may be mentioned that InsideNe on Tuesday broke the news of alleged anomalies in the PHC.