Bhubaneswar: Amid the ongoing wrangle over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC), the survey process to update the National Population Register (NPR) in Odisha has begun.
Door to door survey, collection and updation of data and house-listing process are scheduled to begin from April 16 and continue till May 31 in Odisha as per the instructions from Registrar General of India. However, only the existing NPR data will be updated and already the groundwork has begun, sources said.
“As per directions, State will implement the NPR and the process is already underway,” said Revenue Minister, Sudam Marndi.
In the prescribed format, a person needs to provide either a copy of the Aadhaar, PAN, Voter ID or DL along with his/her mobile number for the first time. Moreover, they will also have to furnish information regarding birth along with their parents’ name and their place of birth.
Meanwhile, the political temperature over the whole issue remains elevated in the state. Congress’ Sarat Rout alleged that BJP is keen to implement NPR and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) only to divide the country.
However, BJP maintained that there is no relation between the NPR and the NRC.
“NPR is being implemented as there is a need to have some data for implementation of developmental schemes,” said Odisha BJP vice-president, Samir Mohanty.
Ruling-BJD spokesperson Pratap Deb, on the other hand, stated that only NPR is being updated.
“NRC, CAA, NPR are all different, but media is only twisting the statements of political parties,” said Deb.