Be careful while preparing NPR: Chidambaram tells DMs

The Government on Thursday asked district magistrates posted along the Indo-Bangla border to guard against people from across the border that may try to enroll their names in the National Population Register (NPR).

The Government on Thursday asked district magistrates posted along the Indo-Bangla border to guard against people from across the border that may try to enroll their names in the National Population Register (NPR).

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Home Minister P Chidambaram said there have been some instances in border areas where people from across the border have tried to get themselves enrolled in the NPR, which will be updated across the country beginning April one.

"There is a danger, mostly in Indo-Bangla border --people crossing over and get enumerated in the NPR," he said addressing the All India Conference on National Population Register here.

The Indo-Bangla border is 4095 km long.

The enumeration exercise will cover all 35 states and Union Territories and the country's 1.2 billion citizens living in 7,742 towns, 6,08,786 villages and 24 crore households involving 25 lakh government employees.

The Home Minister said there are 3,331 border towns and villages where the problem may arise.

"Obviously, any inflated enumeration will take place only in land border. We are not talking about east or west coast. We are talking about the Indo-Myanmar border and Indo-Bangladesh border," he said.

Chidambaram said the other side of the Indo-Myanmar border is very thinly populated.

"So, the really danger is in the Indo-Bangla border. We are cautioning our field officers to be careful while enumerating in Indo-Bangla border," he said.