DC | L. Venkat Ram Reddy | 08th Apr 2013
Hyderabad: If you have enrolled for an Aadhaar card two years ago and have not received the card yet, you have to apply all over again.
Officials of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) in Hyderabad admitted that the data pertaining to applicants who enrolled in the first phase in 2011 and prior to April 2012, has been lost and cannot be traced now.
Nearly two lakh people in the city enrolled two years ago but have not received the cards and have been told to enrol again.
“Several technical problems cropped up initially in the Aadhaar enrolment process in 2011. The data entry operators appointed by the enrolment agencies weren’t trained properly. They made erroneous entries. Besides, there was a tussle between the data entry operators and the agencies over payment in the beginning. Several data entry operators, thus, left the agencies midway without handing over the Aadhaar enrolment data. It isn’t possible to trace that data now,” said a senior official, exposing the shoddy, not to say dangerous, manner in which Aadhaar has been implemented.
Applicants have to re-enrol for aadhaar cards
Applicants have to re-enrol if their status on the e-aadhaar website says “rejected” or if it shows “not found” or if the enrolment is done prior to April 1, 2012, and the status shows “cannot be process due to technical reasons.” Shockingly, 14 lakh entries that were made across the state were ‘erroneous’ due to technical problems that cropped up during the collection of biometric details at the time of enrolment. Of them, seven lakh cases were ‘rectified’ but the officials are clueless on how to proceed in the case of the remaining seven lakh cases.
“We have referred the issue to the state government. In all likelihood, these seven lakh people have to re-enrol as the data cannot be traced or corrected at this stage,” the official said. No one has any idea what will happen to all the data collected that is out there somewhere and could be open to misuse.
Even though the implementation has been so scandalously poor, the April 15 deadline for Aadhaar-LPG linkage in the city still holds. Those who have not got their cards and whose data has been ‘lost’ are panic stricken and for no fault of theirs. The government has cleverly linked the Aadhaar to the one commodity no one can do without in an attempt to force citizens to get the card/number.
The serpentine queues outside enrolment centres make it unlikely that these subscribers will get their cards in time. “I have enrolled for Aadhaar card in March 2012. Whenever I check my status on the website it shows ‘Your aadhaar number is under generation, please check back after few days.’ This information is seen daily since over a year. I am confused whether to re-enrol or wait till the number is generated. I have also complained to UIDAI officials but there was no response till now,” said P. Bhavani Prasad, a resident of Nallakunta.