April 21, 2022: The Assam government on Wednesday decided to file an interlocutory application before the Supreme Court seeking Aadhaar cards for 28 lakh people including those left out of the National Register of Citizenship (NRC) list.

Assam Water Resources Minister Pijush Hazarika said that the state cabinet approved the filing of an interlocutory application before the Supreme Court.

 “About 28 lakh people of the state are still not getting Aadhaar cards and these people are deprived to get benefits from many central schemes. Today’s cabinet meeting held under the Chairmanship of Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma has approved that, the state government will file an IA before the Supreme Court seeking Aadhaar cards for the people who were left out of the NRC,” Hazarika said.

The state cabinet has approved to file IA in the Supreme Court for relaxation of Para 9 of the Standard operating procedure and for providing Aadhaar cards to NRC applicants whose Aadhaar cards are kept on hold because of the existing SOP.

“This will benefit a large section of people below the poverty line, students, pensioners, job seekers etc. who don’t have Aadhaar cards,” Hazarika said.

The Assam Minister further added that the state government has already clarified that the NRC previously conducted cannot be accepted.

“We have discussed the issue with several organisations including All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), Assam Public Works (APW), Assam Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) and they also suggested the state government move to the apex court. Aadhaar card is not a document of citizenship,” Hazarika said.

On the other hand, the Assam cabinet approved to allot five bighas of land for setting up the Royal Bhutanese Consulate General office at Dimoria under Sonapur revenue circle in Kamrup (Metro) district, to allot 77 bighas of land under Chhaygaon revenue circle in Kamrup district for the establishment of a CRPF battalion camp.

They also gave administrative approval of Rs 4,360 crore to convert 1,085 timber bridges to RCC bridges to ensure assured all-weather road connectivity to the people of Assam, Rs 10 crore for the Chief Minister’s Scheme for Public Emergency to provide financial assistance, the monetary award to individual, organization, 2 per cent reservation for ex-servicemen in Class 1 and 2 posts of the state government.

Assam cabinet has also approved the targeted subsidy for power consumers from May 10, 2022, to provide respite to low-end domestic consumers from the hike in retail tariff and for this, around 60 lakh households across the state will get benefits, approved sanction of Rs 108 crore for Assam Microfinance Incentive and Relief Scheme, 2021.