Muslims boycott survey mistaking it for NRC

The residents of Galipura Layout in the city boycotted the annual community-based survey (CBS), conducted by the Health and Family Welfare department, mistaking it to for National Register of Citizens (NRC) survey.

A majority of the residents in the layout belong to the Muslim community. The people, who mistook CBS to NRC, picked fight with Asha workers. Some of them vent their anger at the health workers, tearing application forms.

The Health department conducts CBS every year in urban areas and collects all details, including Aadhaar number, residential address, details of family members and health issues among others.

A total of 15 Asha workers were deputed for the survey in the layout. A few youths started questioning them, believing it to be an NRC survey.

Tahsildar Mahesh, District Health and Family Welfare Officer Dr N C Ravi, with the help of Muslim leaders, cleared the confusion. The community leaders assured the officials of convincing the residents to cooperate with the health workers for the survey.

SDPI leader and Councillor Abrar Ahmed said, the residents got confused upon hearing ‘CBS’, mistaking it to be NRC survey. “We will explain it to them that the CBS survey has nothing to do with the CAA or NRC. If the officials had informed us before the survey, we would have created awareness among them,” he said.