CAA application hearings for residents of West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district will be held at local block offices instead of the district magistrate’s office in Barasat, Food Minister Ashok Kirtania announced during a government outreach programme in Bongaon on Friday.
The change is intended to reduce the travel burden on applicants who previously had to go to Barasat for hearings linked to citizenship applications under the Citizenship Amendment Act. The announcement was made during the state government’s ‘Seba Setu’ campaign at the Bongaon block office, according to a report by Sangbad Pratidin.
North 24 Parganas has five subdivisions—Barasat, Barrackpore, Bongaon, Basirhat and Bidhannagar—and 22 blocks. The district headquarters and the district magistrate’s office are located in Barasat. Applicants from blocks across the district therefore had to travel to Barasat for the hearing stage of their applications.
The report said that many applicants, including refugees and members of the Matua community, had submitted forms under the CAA. A significant number of applicants live in the Bongaon and Basirhat subdivisions, while applications have also been submitted from other parts of the district.
According to the report, the distance to Barasat created difficulties for applicants. Some were unable to attend hearings at the scheduled time, which delayed the process of receiving certificates. Holding hearings at block offices is expected to make the process more accessible to applicants who otherwise face long journeys to the district headquarters.
Kirtania said at the Bongaon programme that people who had come from erstwhile East Bengal had once been citizens of undivided India before becoming refugees, and that the Central government had introduced the CAA for them. He said hearings had so far been conducted at the district magistrate’s office in Barasat, but would now take place at local block offices.
The issue has been politically prominent in parts of Bengal, particularly in Bongaon, Bagdah, Gaighata and Thakurtala, where camps were organised before the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections to assist refugee residents with filling out CAA forms. The report said many applicants who completed the forms still had to travel to Barasat for hearings.
The announcement does not specify the date from which block-level hearings will begin, the number of offices that will conduct them, or how applicants will be assigned hearing venues. Those operational details will determine how quickly the administrative change translates into easier access for applicants across the district.
