DC | 13 hours 24 min ago
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Hyderabad: Aadhaar, which the government boasted would greatly help low income families, could end up hurting them the most.
The Centre has made it clear there will be no further extension of the May 15 deadline for Aadhaar-LPG linkage, and yet more than half the city households are yet to get their Aadhaar cards and will lose the LPG subsidy amount of Rs 463 per cylinder.
Adding to the general chaos of Aadhaar was the news that Aadhaar enrolment data prior to April 1, 2012, has been lost and those people must re-enrol. It was bad enough that they have been kept waiting for nearly two years to get their Aadhaar cards; now they are told they must repeat the tedious process.
UIDAI officials admit losing enrolment data
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 had enrolled two years ago but have not received the cards and have been told to enrol again.
LPG consumers have started receiving SMSs directing them to submit Aadhaar details at both gas agencies and banks before May 15 to avail of the gas subsidy for nine cylinders. . The annual subsidy per consumer is estimated at Rs 4,000.
At present, the price of a non-subsidised cylinder is Rs 900 in the city. Of this, the oil marketing companies will credit the subsidy of Rs 463 directly into the Aadhaar-linked bank account of the consumers. The OMCs have not mentioned the Rs 25 subsidy being provided by the state government since January 2009, which would have reduced the price further.
As per official estimates, out of 25 lakh domestic LPG connections in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts, only 45 per cent have been covered under Aadh-aar. And just 20 per cent consumers who have got Aadhaar cards also have an Aadhaar-linked bank account.