GUWAHATI: The delay in the verification of documents by the West Bengal government leading to omission of many names in the updated NRC draft has angered Bengalis in Assam . They blame West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee for the state of anxiety they have been pushed into.

NRC officials said out of 1.5 lakh documents sent to West Bengal, only 15,000 were returned after verification.

Ujjal Bhowmick of Pandu said, “My mother Ela Pankajini Bhowmick, 83, is from Dumohini in Jalpaiguri district , West Bengal. She submitted her linkage documents of Dumohini, but her name is not in the draft. I think if the West Bengal government was really serious about verifying the documents, many like my mother would not have missed the list.”

Bhowmick said Mamata is indulging in politics after the draft NRC was released. “Today, Mamata Banerjee is trying to project herself as a saviour of Bengalis. But we are all aware that it’s her government which delayed the verification process,” he said. . Documents of Bengali families of Assam were sent to the West Bengal government. Now she should not meddle in our affairs and create misunderstanding among communities in Assam,” Bhowmick stressed.

In Dhubri district , bordering West Bengal, many members of over 100 families who had linkage documents with the neighbouring state could not make it to the draft. “Timely verification would have saved them,” said Dipankar Mazumdar, a Dhubri-based social activist.

