June 28, 2011
June 27: Chaos prevailed at the post-offices which issued Aadhar enrolment forms on Monday. The enthusiasm of Bengalureans to get a permanent identity proof was met with lack of preparedness on the part of the officials. While Bengalureans queued up in large numbers at the centres, there were only a few forms issued. Many people had to go back without a form.
A major source of confusion was regarding the validity of forms downloaded from the website and photocopied from the original forms. The General Post Office had put up a notice in the morning saying that applicants could download and print forms or get photocopies of an original form. However, when people turned up with filled-in forms, they were told that downloaded and photocopied forms were not valid and an original form from one of the seven post offices across the city, was a must.
“After a meeting of UID officials in the afternoon, it was decided that forms other than the original ones issued by a post office, are not valid. There were complaints about people obtaining forms in bulk and selling them. Some photocopy shops were selling photocopies as well,” an official at the GPO said. Getting an original form proved to be a hit-or-miss affair on Monday as the GPO decided to issue only 60-70 forms a day. Eager applicants who did not get a form on Monday, were asked to come back for a form only on Thursday. “Forms are out of stock, the new set will arrive only on Wednesday, you should come to collect one on Thursday,” said an official at the GPO.
However, he later clarified that the post office is issuing a limited number, considering the time required to process a form. “In case we issue a thousand forms at one go, we will have a thousand people at a time queuing up for processing of forms. This will lead to chaos and a longer wait. It requires at least 20 minutes to process a form and we can process less than 30 forms in a day. Therefore, it has been decided to issue only 60-70 forms a day.” Considering that the GPO alone had issued over 250 forms till Monday evening, the GPO has planned to issue only 30 forms on Tuesday. The GPO will require at least 10 days to process all these forms.
This has put many to inconvenience. “Forms at RT Nagar post office were over at 10.30 am. I came to the GPO and was asked to get a photocopy of an original form and come back with the filled-in form before 6 pm. When I returned at 3 pm, I was told that the photocopy was not valid and I could get an original form only on Friday,” said Felix Royan, a resident of Lingarajapuram. “I have taken a day off from my work at the airport and travelled over 40 km to come to the GPO. Now, I’m being asked to return on Thursday to collect the form. Then, the form will be processed after which they will issue a token for verification,” complained Ramesh Singh, an employee at Bengaluru International Airport.
“This is a trial-and-error method. I did not get any forms today. How do I ensure that I will get forms on Thursday? I’ll have to come and queue up at 8 in the morning,” said Purushothaman R, an employee of the secretariat, who came to get 50 forms for the education department.
A major source of confusion was regarding the validity of forms downloaded from the website and photocopied from the original forms. The General Post Office had put up a notice in the morning saying that applicants could download and print forms or get photocopies of an original form. However, when people turned up with filled-in forms, they were told that downloaded and photocopied forms were not valid and an original form from one of the seven post offices across the city, was a must.
“After a meeting of UID officials in the afternoon, it was decided that forms other than the original ones issued by a post office, are not valid. There were complaints about people obtaining forms in bulk and selling them. Some photocopy shops were selling photocopies as well,” an official at the GPO said. Getting an original form proved to be a hit-or-miss affair on Monday as the GPO decided to issue only 60-70 forms a day. Eager applicants who did not get a form on Monday, were asked to come back for a form only on Thursday. “Forms are out of stock, the new set will arrive only on Wednesday, you should come to collect one on Thursday,” said an official at the GPO.
However, he later clarified that the post office is issuing a limited number, considering the time required to process a form. “In case we issue a thousand forms at one go, we will have a thousand people at a time queuing up for processing of forms. This will lead to chaos and a longer wait. It requires at least 20 minutes to process a form and we can process less than 30 forms in a day. Therefore, it has been decided to issue only 60-70 forms a day.” Considering that the GPO alone had issued over 250 forms till Monday evening, the GPO has planned to issue only 30 forms on Tuesday. The GPO will require at least 10 days to process all these forms.
This has put many to inconvenience. “Forms at RT Nagar post office were over at 10.30 am. I came to the GPO and was asked to get a photocopy of an original form and come back with the filled-in form before 6 pm. When I returned at 3 pm, I was told that the photocopy was not valid and I could get an original form only on Friday,” said Felix Royan, a resident of Lingarajapuram. “I have taken a day off from my work at the airport and travelled over 40 km to come to the GPO. Now, I’m being asked to return on Thursday to collect the form. Then, the form will be processed after which they will issue a token for verification,” complained Ramesh Singh, an employee at Bengaluru International Airport.
“This is a trial-and-error method. I did not get any forms today. How do I ensure that I will get forms on Thursday? I’ll have to come and queue up at 8 in the morning,” said Purushothaman R, an employee of the secretariat, who came to get 50 forms for the education department.
