Aadhaar: rate of card generation skewed

Mandatory grievances cell not set up, despite continued concerns

 Even as the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) claims close to 100 per cent enrolment in Mysore district, few consumers and consumer organisations have raised suspicions that the rate of enrolment and rate of card generation is skewed, robbing several persons of benefits aimed at them.

Such cases have also raised the need for a consumer grievances cell for Aadhaar related issues, affecting hundreds, if not thousands of individuals in the district.

A case in point is R Geetha. The 57 year old, single women living with her mother in Kuvempunagar, Mysore, first enrolled for Aadhaar on November 30, 2010. Her Aadhaar enrolment failed for the first time and she was asked to re-enrol, which she did on April 4, 2013. Almost four years and two enrolments later, an Aadhaar card is yet to be issued to Geetha.

While mobile verification of her Aadhaar card status states that the card is ‘under generation’, online verification of her Aadhaar status springs a surprise. “No information is available for the entered ID”, is the response on the website.

Earlier, UIDAI and other agencies involved in the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) of LPG subsidies had claimed that subsidies will be transferred to accounts of customers, by producing their Aadhaar enrolment numbers. “Even after I submitted my enrolment number, subsidies have not been transferred. When I enquired with the gas agency, they said that subsidies will only be transferred to accounts who have mapped their Aadhaar numbers, bank account numbers and LPG customer numbers. If Aadhaar cards is not generated, even after enroling twice, who is to blame?,” she questioned.

Moreover, there are no clear answers to the delay in Aadhaar card generation. “I had approached officials who said that something could be done if Aadhaar is generated and subsidy is not received. Or else, they said nothing could be done,” she said. Calling the UIDAI toll free number too did not help, she added.

Mandatory cell

V L Somashekar of Grahaka Shakthi alleged that even though a grievance cell is mandatory for every district under the National Identification Authority Bill, 2010. Despite implementation of DBT scheme in Mysore for over year, such a cell is yet to be constituted, he said.

Speaking about the high rate of enrolment and card generation in Mysore district, he said that UIDAI was “bluffing about the number of cards generated”.

The purpose of UIDAI was to capture bio-metric information of a person. After spending crores for the project, it is not clear where the bio-metric information is being used, he said.

District administration

Apart from the monthly review meeting with oil companies and LPG distributors of the district, nothing much appears to have been done by the district administration to sort out the issues faced by consumers.

While the residents of Mysore city could approach Mysore one centres in the city, such a facility for persons from rural areas to resolve their grievances is lacking.

Deputy Commissioner, C Shikha said that oil companies too have a helpline to assess the status of Aadhaar cards. She added that UIDAI’s toll free number could be used to sort out consumer issues.