NDTV
Profit: Ludhiana: Thursday, 05 March 2020.
A
Right to Information (RTI) query has revealed that the Haryana government
doesn't have documents on the citizenship of state functionaries including
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, cabinet ministers and the Governor.
On
January 20, a Panipat-based activist had filed an RTI seeking details about the
citizenship proof of the Chief Minister, cabinet ministers, and Governor
Satyadev Narayan Arya.
Responding
to PP Kapoor's RTI, Haryana's Public Information Officer (PIO) said they didn't
have any information regarding this in their records. "The citizenship
documents might be available with the Election Commission," Poonam Rathi
said.
During
the state election campaign last September, Manohar Lal Khattar had promised to
implement the National Register of Citizens or NRC, to check illegal
immigration.
"In
Haryana we will implement NRC along the lines of Assam," Mr Khattar had
said after meetings with former Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba and a retired
high court judge HS Bhalla where the issue was discussed.
The
retired judge had recommended a "state-specific ID card" to keep
anti-social elements at bay.
"I
said that we will implement NRC in Haryana and have sought Bhalla-ji's support
and suggestion," Mr Khattar had said.
At
a press briefing this year in January, the Chief Minister had informed that
about 1,500 people who came to India after facing religious persecution in
Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan were living in Haryana, and that they can
now be given citizenship because of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA.
"Around
1,500 people belonging to different minority communities of these three countries
have been living in Haryana. Out of these 1,500, there is only one Muslim
family," Mr Khattar had said.
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