Admitting to delay and lethargy from the side of postal department in delivering Aadhaar cards on the beneficiaries’ doorsteps, Chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Nandan Nilekani said that all enrolment centers would be equipped to print e-Aadhaar. There are 30,000 enrolment centers across the country.
“Yes, there have been issues in delivering the cards to the enrolled persons. We are in talks with the postal department in this regard. What we are also ensuring is the printing facilities at the enrolment centers everywhere. Printed Aadhaar card is also a valid document,” said Nilekani on Tuesday in an interaction with the media.
Cases of huge pendency in delivering UID cards have been reported and also lackluster show from the part of post offices. large numbers of enrolled persons are yet to get the cards leaving them in lurch. The problem is even bigger in Jharkhand.
Though commending the State for ‘high percentage’ of enrollments made for UID card, Nilekani said that complete coverage in Jharkhand would be met by the end of 2013. “We are committed to making Jharkhand a model State in the country as it was among the early starters and has advantages over the others. Just over one crore population in the State has been left now. As per our initial plan we hope to complete the process before December 2013,” said
the Chairman.
At the same time he also underlined the need to accelerate the process in the State and wanted more enrolments centers. Out of 3.20 crore population about 1.97 crore enrolments have been done in Jharkhand. Whereas, nationwide enrolment figure has reached to 40 crore with 31.5 crore Aadhaar letters issued. By 2014, the UIDAI expects to reach 60 crore population of the country with 2 crore enrolments are done every month on an average.
Talking about technical glitches coming in authentication process due to poor quality of finger print, Irish or disability, Nilekani said none would be denied accessibility and subsidiary measures were in place to overcome the shortcomings. Nilekani also accepted delay in seeding of accounts numbers with UID and said the matter came for discussion with the Prime Minister.
Stressing upon the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme launched by the Center, also rated as ‘game changer’, Nilekani said that as per recent decision 78 new districts had been added for its expansion.
“We had earlier 43 districts and in the second leg 78 more districts have also been added into this. Now, 1/5 th of India is covered. People are happy with the scholarship and lPG subsidy going directly to their bank accounts. Now pension schemes have also been included. It has made their lives easier. A total of 20 districts have been identified for lPG subsidy and now the Petroleum Ministry has to take a final call,” he said.
Also present on the occasion was Chief Secretary RS Sharma, who has held the post of Director General of UIDAI before coming to Jharkhand. “We have to accelerate enrolments in Jharkhand and we are working in the direction. Jharkhand has been the first State to rollout micro ATM facility and we want to scale it up to all districts,” said the Chief Secretary. Nilekali lauded Sharma’s contribution by calling him ‘pillar of Aadhaar’.