ByVijay Pinjarkar, TNN | Feb 11, 2013, 04.53 PM IST
NAGPUR: The conflicting statements made by none other than top echelons in the central and the state government about validity and importance of Aadhar (unique identity card) is creating confusion among the common man.
On February 2, Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said UID is just a number and not an identity card.
Consumer rights and RTI activist Avinash Prabhune from Nagpur says Ahluwalia's contention cannot be accepted as Nandan Nilekani, who heads the Aadhar project, himself had confirmed that Aadhar card is a valid document for address and ID proof and can even be submited for know your customer (KYC) compliance to LPG companies.
Besides, chief secretary of Maharashtra on September 5, 2011 had directed all the government departments to accept Aadhar as proof of address and identity. Similarly, Prabhune says the railways also issued a circular on November 1, 2012, asking to accept Aadhar card as ID proof for rail travel.
"Public should not suffer due to government ambiguity. I strongly support Aadhar as it will certainly arrest leakage of subsidies in future once it is fully implemented," says Prabhune.
The government had assured that Aadhar card is to be accepted as address and identity proof. Therefore, every individual believes that one will not now need to carry multiple documents.
Prabhune pointed out that despite government circular, there are some departments like the RTO which is not accepting Aadhar card as proof of address.
Citing the latest example, Prabhune said, ""when I went to a two-wheeler dealer in the city to submit a copy of Aadhar card as address and identity proof, I was told that Nagpur RTO doesn't accept UID card as proof of address."" If this is true then it is a serious violation of the circular issued by the chief secretary in September 2011.
It is observed that there is lack of coordination among various government departments. It results in huge wastage of public money and time. As per the available information, more than Rs 2,000 crores have been spent on the UID scheme while 23 crore residents have been enrolled so far and 21 crore Aadhaar numbers have been generated.