SUNDAY, 11 SEPTEMBER 2011 22:36 DIPANSHU ROY | CHANDIGARH HITS: 90
The UT Administration formally launched the unique identification (UID) card and its Aadhar registration camps in the city around four months back, but it has failed to evoke response from the residents. The main reason for this low turn out is the lack of awareness about the UID cards among the people.
While a section of the educated and semi-literate class has been reaching out to the UID card registration camps in the city, the senior citizens who are approaching the registration camps are having a tough time to deal with.
According to officials, to begin with there are around 20 centres which are operational in the city. But in reality, many places are not functioning for long without any reason.
The centres like in Madhya Marg in Sector 8-C and Arya Samaj Mandir are dysfunctional.
GS Gill, 85, is battling for getting a registration, lamented, “My wife and me, are moving one office to another to register our Aadhar card registration number. But we found that, few centres were closed. Finally, we went to one of the centre, where we were peeved to see a long queue of residents waiting to get themselves enrolled.
Adding to our misery, there were no extra counters for senior citizens which compelled us to stand in the same line with youngsters, women, men and children”.
Retired Brigadier Keshav Chandra, president, Chandigarh Senior Citizens Association said, “With our persuasion, a counter for senior citizen was started at Karuna Sadan centre in Sector-11. But because of lack of awareness and registration of the senior citizen in the vicinity, it was again converted into a general counter where everyone has to be in queue for at least 15-20 minutes. The senior citizens use stick to walk and barely, they can stand for even for five minutes. How can the administration neglect in ensuring a separate counter for senior citizens”.
Senior Citizen Welfare Association members complained that, after seeing us standing for so many hours in the row, sometimes the centre just asked us to come another day. They don’t allow us to skip the line or make some special arrangements for our regisration
On the other hand, UT police are providing facilities like special helpline numbers for senior citizen, regularly holding meetings with them to hear their grievances and having a special cab service to drop them at their home after 10pm, if they are found to be alone in the middle of the road.
On the condition of anonymity, an official from a centre explained, “The problem is lack of awareness among the people that leads to very few people to come to us for registration as compared to that in the other States. In future, if the number of senior citizens increases in the city, then definitely we will make some provision for them to make their work easier”.
Around two machines are operating in most of the city centres where on an average 100 dwellers visit for enrollment per day. Among them, around 10-15 senior citizens stand in the queue, facing lot of inconvenience as there is no separate counter for them.
According to sources, there is still a lot of confusion regarding the UID card registration in the city and where its centres are located. The administration at the time of launching took help of the local media, advertisements, used billboards and informed the local masses in a streamlined manner.
But, the residents are not satisfied with the facilities and planning as it seems that the administration started the registration in hurry.
While a section of the educated and semi-literate class has been reaching out to the UID card registration camps in the city, the senior citizens who are approaching the registration camps are having a tough time to deal with.
According to officials, to begin with there are around 20 centres which are operational in the city. But in reality, many places are not functioning for long without any reason.
The centres like in Madhya Marg in Sector 8-C and Arya Samaj Mandir are dysfunctional.
GS Gill, 85, is battling for getting a registration, lamented, “My wife and me, are moving one office to another to register our Aadhar card registration number. But we found that, few centres were closed. Finally, we went to one of the centre, where we were peeved to see a long queue of residents waiting to get themselves enrolled.
Adding to our misery, there were no extra counters for senior citizens which compelled us to stand in the same line with youngsters, women, men and children”.
Retired Brigadier Keshav Chandra, president, Chandigarh Senior Citizens Association said, “With our persuasion, a counter for senior citizen was started at Karuna Sadan centre in Sector-11. But because of lack of awareness and registration of the senior citizen in the vicinity, it was again converted into a general counter where everyone has to be in queue for at least 15-20 minutes. The senior citizens use stick to walk and barely, they can stand for even for five minutes. How can the administration neglect in ensuring a separate counter for senior citizens”.
Senior Citizen Welfare Association members complained that, after seeing us standing for so many hours in the row, sometimes the centre just asked us to come another day. They don’t allow us to skip the line or make some special arrangements for our regisration
On the other hand, UT police are providing facilities like special helpline numbers for senior citizen, regularly holding meetings with them to hear their grievances and having a special cab service to drop them at their home after 10pm, if they are found to be alone in the middle of the road.
On the condition of anonymity, an official from a centre explained, “The problem is lack of awareness among the people that leads to very few people to come to us for registration as compared to that in the other States. In future, if the number of senior citizens increases in the city, then definitely we will make some provision for them to make their work easier”.
Around two machines are operating in most of the city centres where on an average 100 dwellers visit for enrollment per day. Among them, around 10-15 senior citizens stand in the queue, facing lot of inconvenience as there is no separate counter for them.
According to sources, there is still a lot of confusion regarding the UID card registration in the city and where its centres are located. The administration at the time of launching took help of the local media, advertisements, used billboards and informed the local masses in a streamlined manner.
But, the residents are not satisfied with the facilities and planning as it seems that the administration started the registration in hurry.
