At least 100 Pakistani Hindus staying in India on a long-term visa have applied for Indian citizenship during a two-day camp organised by the Home Ministry and district authorities.
Jodhpur District Magistrate Vishnu Charan Mallik said besides 100 applications for citizenship, requests were also received from a number of people seeking long-term visa so that they can live in India till they meet the eligibility criteria for becoming an Indian citizen.
Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, who was also present at the camp that started yesterday, said the results of the steps undertaken to grant Indian citizenship to Hindu migrants from Pakistan would start bearing fruits in the next six months.
"They face many problems and we are taking up these issues in their entirety," he said.
Mallik said that earlier the applicants would be asked to submit birth certificates of their parents born in undivided India along with the application. Now this condition has been waived off.
Another criteria entailing the applicants to file an affidavit declaring that they have not travelled abroad in the last one year has also been relaxed.
The authorities also reviewed applications received during a camp held in March last year. Of the 1,702 applications received last year, 168 have been recommended for citizenship, they said.
The rest of the applications could not be processed as they contained errors. A number of people, who had applied for the citizenship, did not turn up for verification, they said.
