Aadhaar centres set to close on February 12
Registration for Aadhaar cards being issued by Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) will come to a halt in the State on February 12.
The empowered committee, headed by the chief secretary, in a communique sent via email on January 23, has directed the deputy commissioners to stop the enrolment and ensure that proper exit and closure procedures were followed and evaluators were present until the last day.
Official sources in the deputy commissioner’s office here said, they have been asked to stop enrolment from February 12 and a letter in this regard has been received.
Sources in the government said the Centre had instructed the State to carry on the enrolment process only up to Feb 14. In accordance with the instruction, the deputy commissioners have been directed to enrol only up to Feb 14 or stop it earlier in case the target is reached. If the Centre extends the deadline and the target, then the enrolment process will resume, sources added.
Aadhaar registration has been outsourced to private agencies, who in turn have given sub-contracts to smaller companies to conduct the enrolment. The registration process is already facing a lot of problems with many of the enrolment stations remaining closed due to non-payment of wages to the employees by the agencies.
Complaints of non-payment of wages were common across the State. Now, with the enrolment processes coming to an end in about a fortnight, they fear that they could be deprived of the wages despite working on all days including holidays.
In Belgaum district alone, the registration had been a meager 30 per cent. Figures available till December 21 showed that 7.50 lakh people of the 42 lakh population as per the census of 2001 have enrolled for Aadhaar in the district.
