J&K Government Told to Stop Aadhaar Enrolment through PECs

KL NEWS NETWORK

SRINAGAR

While the Aadhaar card has been mandatory, the Union government has asked the state to stop the biometric enrolment of the people through Permanent Enrolment Centres (PEC) and carry out the process through field module.

The order has had the enrolment agencies agitated as they have closed down the enrolment of the pending population.

As per the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, Ministry of Home affairs, order No. 9/35/2010-CRD (NPR) VOL III dated March 28, the state has been asked to carry out the enrolment of all the residents above 5- years-age after March 31 through CPSUs (field module).

The GoI had sanctioned 344 Aadhaar PECs in all the districts, Tehsils and Municipalities of the state on fixed cost basis for various Aadhaar services and enrolment.

Since the contract with PECs has ended on March 28, the state coordinator has been communicated through letter No. N-9/1/2016, dated 18 March to direct all the deputy commissioners to take possession of all the hardware including laptops, fingerprint scanners, web cams from PECs vendors.

The enrolment agencies said that the central government’s order has hit the employment of the youth who were engaged for biometric enrolling and importantly services.

“It has rendered 688 youth jobless. And has hit the enrolment services, besides leaving 25 lakh people who are yet to be enrolled without mandatory Aadhaar cards,” Sheikh Imtiyaz, who was running PECs in the state for Aadhaar enrolment, told KNS.

Imtiyaz said that those people who need rectification of the mistakes in their Aadhaar data will have nowhere to go as there will be no PEC to do date enrolment.

“Also fresh enrolment of 0-5 years of population will not take place in absence of the enrolment centres and agencies,” he said.

The enrolment agencies had suggested the government to keep a PEC in all the districts of the state at Tehsil, ward and municipality level so that people could avail the Aadhaar service at the time when they needed.

“Bu the state government failed to convince the central government about it and thus hit the Aadhaar enrolment service,” he said.

Hirdesh Kumar, Commissioner Secretary Information and Technology told KNS that the biometric enrolment will not stop as the centre as clarified to the state.

“We have been asked to carry the Aadhaar enrolment in camps. The enrolment agencies will not be stationary but will have to go into the areas where enrolment is to be carried out. They have to hold camps there,” Kumar said.

The enrolment agencies said that the fixed centre is convenient for the people than filed module.

“How does the enrolment agency know which people are to be enrolled? People who needed the service can come to a fixed place than roaming around to locate the service providers,” they said.

The government had till March 16 enrolled 88,25,556 people out of the total population of 1,25,41,302, and Aadhaar cards have been issued to 73,87,321 persons.

More than 8 lakh Aadhaar have been generated since January this year and another 4.78 lakh persons have been enrolled.

Recently, Governor N N Vohra directed the State Census Department to significantly speed up the process by holding camps in the field and outside large offices to enable people to enrol themselves closer to their villages and places of work.

Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is a Union government agency that aims to collect the biometric and demographic data of residents.

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