Guwahati: Technical operators engaged by the National Register of Citizens (NRC) seva kendras of Chariduar circle under Sonitpur district in central Assam are working round-the-clock to meet the July 30 deadline for the publication of the second and final draft of the NRC.

"Many sleepless nights in NRC seva kendras for the last three years have helped us reach the stage of printing the final NRC draft. We are engaged in printing the final NRC draft list at the circle level and at some seva kendras, the technical operators are working till 1am and sometimes staying overnight," said Bhaben Medhi, one of the four technical supervisors from Integrated System and Service (ISS), of the Circle Registrar of Citizen Registration (CRCR), Chariduar circle.

The second and final draft NRC is scheduled to be published on Monday. The first draft was published on December 31, 2017. The technical manpower for the update has been jointly supplied by Wipro and ISS, an IT company.

Medhi added that despite some technical problems like Internet snags and computer issues, work has progressed smoothly.

Many of these technical supervisors have come to office with "bag and baggage" as they are uncertain whether they can go home at before July 30.

"The only thing that satisfies us is our contribution to our state at this crucial stage. We are not paid sufficiently for our work. We are extremely happy because we believe ourselves to be the main architects of the drive. If there is a single technical error, we will be held responsible. My home is 30km to 35km away from the Chariduar revenue circle. Due to the uncertainty of my returning home till July 30, I have come with bag and baggage. Usually I used to return home after work," said Dibyajyoti Nath, another technical supervisor. There are at least two technical operators in each of the 24 NRC seva kendras, who are supervised by four technical supervisors under Chariduar circle.

Prashanna Sen, a technical operator at the seva kendra at Phulaguri village said, "There are 2,500 families in this village, and I am the lone technical operator since the publication of first NRC draft list in 2017. Additional operators are necessary to cope with the work pressure. As the printing of the final NRC draft started from today, we began our work from 6am, despite 10am being the usual office hour. Before this also, we have been working overnight till the completion of the verification process recently. Due to the work pressure, we will make arrangements to stay in office at night like we did during the publication of the first NRC draft."

The Sonitpur district in-charge of circle registrar of citizen registration said, "Government bodies, Wipro and ISS are all working together for the NRC update process, though the main technical handling is done by us. We are working for the preparation of the NRC final draft and it is being printed now. The support we are getting from the district administration is remarkable."