Chaos continues in Aadhaar registration

People wait patiently at centres since early morning only to get token relief

The stench that was emanating from the open drains on Ashoka Road, opposite the Town Hall, with the majestic Dodda Gadiyara (Clock Tower) mocking, was a perfect metaphor for the stink that the Aadhaar card registration is becoming.

Hundreds had gathered in a queue on Thursday and some had come as early as six in the morning — not for Aadhaar card registration, but just to get the token so that they could come again for the registration. This Aadhaar registration centre on Ashoka Road has been outsourced. The tokens are given for the whole month.

There were also notices put in the office and pasted on the wall at the entrance that the tokens for registration would be given on January 31 and it would start from 9.30 am.

However, even as the people waited patiently and time passed, they started becoming restless. Even at 10 am there was no sign of any official opening the shutters to issue tokens.

Slowly, the tempers started rising, and some of them decided to take law into their hands.

Murmurs were heard that there were no Aadhaar forms and hence the tokens would not be issued. Hearing this, the people in the front of the queue started protesting loudly, even as those at the back could not follow what was happening.

The police were summoned to control the situation that was slowly getting out of hand. Meanwhile, the Deccan Herald reporter spoke to Corporation commissioner M R Ravi who said the district administration was in-charge of Aadhar cards and the corporation was not directly involved in the process.

By then, better sense prevailed and suddenly there was a rush as those who were not in the queue put their hands in the opening of the shutters to collect the tokens. It took a little time for the situation to be brought under control and the tokens were distributed for the month.

However, it was all done in a random way that those who stood in front of the line had dates given much later, while a few who stood at the back were lucky enough to get it for the very next day (February 1).

The scene in other Aadhaar registration centres are no different. In a centre located at Sharada Devi Nagar the confusion continues. There was an old woman in her 70s, who was helplessly crying as she did not know what to do.

Being an illiterate, she did not have the ability to fill the form. There were people who had come with their tiny tots.

A young woman Sarala told this newspaper that she had come four times and still her work was not done.

A few helpful souls in the corporation were trying to direct people to other centres and some were giving false information like the Aadhaar registration was being done in Mysore One centres. A few went in the hope that they would be able to get their work done fast only to return disappointed.

Gas cylinder subsidy

The common refrain was that they had come forcefully to get the Aadhar card only to fulfill the criteria to get subsidy for cooking gas cylinders. A recently retired woman income tax official said, “All these days I had refused to get the Aadhar card. But the moment there were reports that this card is essential to get the subsidy, I have come to find out the procedure.”

In spite of the fact that the Aadhaar card registration process is more than a year old, there are complaints galore of people who had already registered not getting their cards.

Retired engineer C S Krishnan, 82, had applied along with his family members a year ago. While his other family members have got the cards, he has not received it. Now he is forced to come and again apply for the card.

Even as a Union finance ministry official claims that the move is aimed at preventing misuse of subsidy, the harrowing experiences that people have to undergo to claim it is a different story that those sitting in ivory towers cannot understand.