UID: Seven months after launch,only 27% registered in city

Out of the estimated population of 1.25 crore,about 33.8 lakh citizens have registered themselves so far. The activity began on January 26 and has to be wound up by March 2012. The civic body has set up 142 UID centres across the city,all within municipal school premises. Each centre has about five machines,where a maximum of 250 registrations can be done per day.

Four IT firms have been appointed for recording iris impressions and fingerprints through biometrics and have also been entrusted the responsibility of going door-to-door and making citizens aware of the scheme. Kumar said one of the four firms has communicated that it cannot complete the work with its limited resources till the deadline. “We will request Maharashtra government to help us expedite the work by providing us with state-appointed vendors,” he said. Eighteen per cent population has been covered in the island city,25 per cent in western suburbs and 36 per cent in the eastern suburbs.

The UID will be a citizen’s exclusive 12-digit identification tool which will facilitate opening bank accounts,booking tickets on the internet,buying ration etc. Besides helping the citizens while dealing with government institutions,the card will also help the state government ensure all benefits reach the intended people. Members from the enrollment firms will go door-to-door asking citizens to fill the enrollment form and submit it with originals and photocopies of proof of identity and address.

Supporting documents like birth certificate,secondary school leaving certificate or a passport will be essential to validate date of birth. The details are then checked by the verifier and the citizen can then proceed to the enrolment station where a photograph will be taken followed by iris and fingerprint scanning. After 15 days,the Aadhaar or UID card will be delivered to the citizen.