NRC Assam website broken, helpline reroutes to vet hospital: Congress
Synopsis
A call to the NRC Assam helpline for outstation users was reportedly rerouted to a veterinary hospital in Shillong — the latest sign that the register's ₹1,600 crore digital infrastructure may have been left to decay since its 2019 publication. Congress leader Debabrata Saikia has now escalated the matter to the Assam Chief Secretary.
Key Takeaways
Debabrata Saikia , former Leader of Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly , wrote to the Assam Chief Secretary on 16 May flagging failures in the NRC Assam portal and helplines.
State helpline 15107 allegedly went unanswered; the outstation toll-free number was reportedly rerouted to a veterinary hospital in Shillong .
Saikia cited a reported expenditure of more than ₹1,600 crore on the NRC exercise, questioning the lack of functional digital infrastructure.
NRC documents are routinely needed by Assam residents for legal and administrative purposes, making portal access critical.
The Assam government had not publicly responded to the letter at the time of this report.
Congress leader and former Leader of Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly, Debabrata Saikia, has written to the Assam Chief Secretary alleging serious technical and administrative failures in the National Register of Citizens (NRC) Assam portal and its associated helpline numbers. The letter, dated Saturday, 16 May, calls the situation 'highly unprofessional' and demands immediate corrective action.
What Saikia Found
Saikia alleged that while attempting to retrieve his own NRC details through the portal's 'Know Your ARN' section, the website directed him to call state helpline number 15107. Repeated calls to that number, he claimed, went unanswered. When he used a SIM card registered outside Assam to dial the toll-free number meant for outstation callers, the call was reportedly diverted to a veterinary hospital in Shillong — an error he described as symptomatic of a deeper systemic breakdown.
The ₹1,600 Crore Question
Saikia, who also served as former Vice President of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC), questioned how the NRC infrastructure had been allowed to deteriorate despite a reported outlay of more than ₹1,600 crore on the NRC updating exercise. He argued that the scale of public expenditure makes the alleged dysfunction of basic digital and telephonic support systems particularly indefensible.
Why Citizens Are Affected
NRC documents and related data are routinely required by Assam residents for legal and administrative proceedings — from property transactions to court filings. According to Saikia, citizens are being left without recourse at a time when the NRC's relevance to everyday life remains high. He questioned whether the state government had 'implicitly nullified' the NRC's importance through what he described as the 'abandoned state' of the website and helplines.
What Saikia Has Demanded
In his letter, Saikia urged the Chief Secretary to immediately investigate the failures, restore the NRC portal to full functionality, rectify the helpline system — including the misdirected outstation number — and ensure uninterrupted support for citizens seeking NRC-related services. The Assam government has not publicly responded to the letter as of the time of this report.
The episode adds to a broader pattern of concerns around the NRC's post-finalisation infrastructure, which critics argue has received insufficient administrative attention since the register was published in August 2019. Whether the Chief Secretary acts on Saikia's demands will be closely watched by civil society groups tracking NRC implementation in the state.
Point of View
600 crore — yet the infrastructure built to serve it appears to have been left without meaningful upkeep. A helpline that reroutes to a veterinary clinic is not a minor glitch; it signals institutional indifference to a document that remains legally consequential for millions of Assam residents. The state government's silence on Saikia's letter is itself telling. If NRC-related queries cannot be resolved through official channels, citizens — particularly those from vulnerable communities — are effectively denied access to records that could determine their legal status. That is an accountability failure that goes well beyond a broken website.
NationPress
12 Aug 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What did Congress leader Debabrata Saikia allege about the NRC Assam website?
Saikia alleged that the NRC Assam portal's 'Know Your ARN' section was non-functional and that the associated helplines were either unanswered or misdirected. He wrote to the Assam Chief Secretary on 16 May, calling the situation 'highly unprofessional.'
What happened when the NRC outstation helpline was called?
According to Saikia, a call made using a SIM card registered outside Assam to the toll-free outstation helpline was reportedly rerouted to a veterinary hospital in Shillong. The state helpline number 15107 allegedly went unanswered.
How much was spent on the NRC process in Assam?
Saikia cited a reported expenditure of more than ₹1,600 crore on the NRC updating exercise, arguing that the alleged collapse of basic digital and telephonic infrastructure is indefensible given this outlay.
Why does access to the NRC portal matter for Assam residents?
NRC documents are frequently required for legal and administrative purposes in Assam, including property transactions and court proceedings. Saikia argued that citizens must be able to access their NRC information without difficulty.
What action has Saikia demanded from the Assam government?
Saikia has urged the Chief Secretary to immediately investigate the failures, restore the NRC portal, fix the helpline system — including the misdirected outstation number — and ensure proper citizen support for NRC-related services.
