KRISHNADAS RAJAGOPAL
Caught between baring it all for the National Population Register (NPR) card and its Aadhar counterpart, residents within the Kozhikode Corporation limits are facing a unique identity crisis.
“The same persons who had gone through the NPR biometric registration have been asked to do it again for the Aadhar programme now. People are asking why they have to give their personal details twice in a row? The explanation given is that data collected for the NPR has somehow been deleted from the computers. This is not proper,” Deputy Mayor P.T. Abdul Latheef said on Tuesday.
Mayor worried
An exasperated Mayor A.K. Premajam admitted in a Corporation Council meeting on Monday that lack of clarity about the biometric data processing for the Aadhar card and alleged deletion of data previously collected for the NPR have become a source of worry.
The debate was initiated in the Council meeting by CPI(M) councillor K. Devaki, who said “people are being asked to go through the biometric registration process all over again. The reason given to people is that data previously stored has been deleted.”
“If data has been lost once and for all, how safe is it to give my personal details again?” Ms. Devaki, who represents Nellikode at the Corporation, said.
Responding to Ms. Devaki’s query, the Mayor said she had called up the District Collector, enquiring whether he had received official information about any loss of data.
“The Collector told me he has no official information regarding this. He had called up the census director, who also replied in the negative,” the Mayor said at the council meet, assuring that she would further look into the matter.
No role, says Collector
Reacting to this, District Collector K.V. Mohan Kumar said the district administration is not the authority concerned with the Aadhar unique identity card project.
“I contacted the Akshaya co-ordinator, who said they are not doing the data collection process within the Corporation limits,” he said.
“There are people saying that data collected previously has been lost. But the district administration has no role whatsoever in the Aadhar unique identity card project itself,” Mr. Kumar reiterated.
‘No major complaint’
On contacting the Akshaya District Project Office, Assistant Project Co-ordinator M. Firoz said his office is not in charge of the Aadhar unique identity card process for areas coming within the Corporation limits.
“We are in charge of the panchayats. We have not received any major complaints from our clients. KELTRON is taking care of the biometric data collection process within the Corporation limits,” Mr. Firoz said.
“People who want to know who is processing their Aadhar card can check the code on the slip you get after the biometric data process. If the code reads ‘2001’, it means KELTRON is processing your card. If the code is ‘2003’, you come under Akshaya,” an Akshaya official in Kozhikode said.
Checking online
“The NPR was done by the Census Department. We are doing Aadhar within the Corporation limits. There has been no deletion of biometric data collected by us. That’s simply not possible. The public can even check their status online,” Pramod Kumar, Regional Co-ordinator, KELTRON, said.
“The same biometric data collected for NPR is being collected for Aadhar too. People can ask why this is being done, but that is a question for national discussion,” he said.
Call for clarity
“The government should make it clear whether it is NPR card or unique identity Aadhar card that a person should take. People take leave from work and children miss school to wait for hours helter-skelter for taking these two cards. It should be made clear which of the cards is mandatory,” K. Radhakrishnan, who is part of a social group, Kerala Janapaksham, based in Chalappuram here, said.
Which card is mandatory – the Aadhar or the NPR, ask the residents.