DC | 20th Sep 2013
Picture for representational purpose only.
Kochi: Even as 60 lakh people still wait for their Aadhaar cards in the state, Kerala government has not made matters any easy for them. A government advertisement on September 15 listed two telephone numbers for helping those registered for Aadhaar or intending to do so.
But it turned out that both the numbers- toll free no 1800 4251 1800 and 047-155300 were left unattended for the last four days. According to Francis Vazhapally from Valappad, who tried both numbers, the first one was giving a standard reply ever since last July when he applied for the card.
“It tells me that I will get the card in a few days. Calls to the other number say that such a number does not exist,” he told DC.
When checked with Kerala IT Mission which is manning both the telephones, DC was told that since the last several days were holidays on account of Onam, both the telephones were left unattended. “Both the telephones are attended round the clock, even on Sundays, but not on declared holidays,” said an official.
He also clarified that the number 0471-155300 can be accessed only from BSNL land and mobile phones and not from the phones of other service providers. But this fact was not mentioned in the advertisement. The IT Mission will issue a series of corrected advertisements in the coming weeks, he added.
He also said that postal delay was the reason why those who had applied for Aadhar had not got them even after months. But people can take e-Aadhaar from the website and use it for all practical purposes.
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