TNN | Feb 14, 2013, 04.56 AM IST
BANGALORE: An identity crisis, a unique one at that, is unravelling in the city. Bangaloreans flocking to Aadhar centres to get their Unique Identification Numbers, are having to put up with chaotic scenes.
The chaos has been so widespread that some post offices, like in R T Nagar, have stopped issuing appointment tokens for registration. The BBMP area offices where Aadhar work is being done have become hotbeds of confusion. For, only a minuscule number of applications can be processed given the staff crunch and time consuming registration processes, resulting in hundreds of people returning empty-handed.
Application forms are not available at most registration centres. Enterprising photocopying shop owners in the neighbourhood of RT Nagar post office and RT Nagar BBMP office are seen making a fast buck by selling photocopies of the application forms.
The Aadhar centres issuing appointments for registration have a narrow window, between 9am and 9.30am, and issue only a maximum of 40 to 70 tokens. Those lucky enough to get a token have to turn up in the afternoon for getting their fingerprints, details and photos recorded by officials. This has given rise to long queues at Aadhar offices, BBMP offices and other centres from the wee hours of the morning.
"I wanted to get a card for my daughter as well as for myself, so I stood in the queue from early morning," said a woman at the Mico Layout Aadhar registration office. "But after standing for hours in the queue, the officials told me to come back in the afternoon. They even refused to give my daughter, who's a minor, an appointment. I am losing patience amid this confusion," she added.
"Nowadays most government processes require Aadhar number. I am sure it's going to become an important document in future," said Murgesh Gowda, employee of an IT major, at the Mico Layout Aadhar office.
A 58-year-old resident of JP Nagar, Niranjan KN, told TOI that he had got the required Aadhar forms in English from Jayanagar BBMP office but was turned away and asked to get a form in Kannada on Wednesday at the Mico Layout office. "They even rejected my address proof and asked me to produce computerized address proof after I produced a bank passbook which had the seal of the bank. I am very confused as to how to go about the process without glitches," he said.
Admitting to glitches, Ashok Dalwai, UIDAI chief, said, "We plan to finish the process by the end of the year." Currently, about 2.2 crore of 6.10 crore people in the state have been registered. In Bangalore about 28 lakh people have been registered and there are 60-65 lakh more registrations to go, he said.
QUOTES
Mera number kab ayega
"People are queuing up in huge numbers from as early as 5am to get tokens so that they get an appointment in the afternoon. This is very difficult for people like me who have to report to work in the morning. I have already come here twice but with no success.
Deepak Krishnan, IT employee
600 city centres by Feb-end
I acknowledge there is shortage of Aadhaar centres in the city and state. Each centre can process only about 40-45 applications a day. We are trying to solve the problem by increasing the number of centres from the current 287 in Bangalore to 600 by the end of the month. Similarly, we plan to increase the total number in the state from 1,500 to 3,000 by the end of the month.
Ashok Dalwai, UIDAI chief, Karnataka
