5191 - Aadhaar job to resume in twin cities - Telegraph India

Aadhaar job to resume in twin cities

BIBHUTI BARIK AND VIKASH SHARMA

Bhubaneswar/Cuttack, Feb. 12:  A new drive for issuing Aadhaar cards has begun in Cuttack on February 10, while it is set to be launched in Bhubaneswar on February 17. In the first round of preparing these biometric data cards in Bhubaneswar, eight wards and eight other areas on its outskirts were covered. This time, the drive will be undertaken in all the 60 old wards of the city, along with 20 areas on the its outskirts. Deputy census director Chittaranjan Mohanty said: “The first round of the project was done in the city during 2012-13. Now, we are in the second round. However, as we have to cover 60 wards and 20 areas on the outskirts, we will cover all areas in phases. We are prioritising those wards where space is available in public buildings.” Census sources, however, said that till the first phase of the second round, only 50 per cent of the population in Bhubaneswar was covered for Aadhaar cards. The entire population will be covered in several other phases. But, to cover the entire population, nodal centres will be planned at eight locations across the city, which will operate for at least four months. Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation’s slum improvement officer Binay Kumar Dash said: “We have already identified four locations out of these eight nodal centres at a yatri nivas near Cuttack Road, a kalyan mandap at Chandrasekharpur, the Dakshin Chandi Mandap at Old Town and the Youth Association building at Jagamara. Sites for the four other nodal centres will be identified later.” The first four nodal centres will start operation within a week. However, these centres will operate in addition to the usual biometric operations set up in the wards. Master Apollo, a resident of Kalinga Vihar, said: “Even today, more than 50 per cent of the city population do not have Aadhaar cards. The government should open more nodal centres to cover all the left-out people.” Cuttack confusion Work for the third round for collection of biometric details for Aadhaar card has triggered confusion among people here. Utter chaos prevailed at the Cuttack Municipal Corporation office on the second day of registration. Though the third round of biometric data collection started on February 10, a lot of people were unable to complete the registration process because of heavy rush in the two counters that have been opened at the municipal office here. “I had come to register myself for the Aadhaar card. But, I was not able to complete the formalities because of mad rush,” said Sudhakar Beura, 72, a resident of CDA Sector-7. “We are yet to get the Aadhaar card even though we had completed all the formalities in the first phase of the enrolment drive in October 2011,” said D. Padma Rao, 37,a resident of Buxi Bazaar. However, civic officials said that a detailed plan had been chalked out along with the directorate of census operations, Odisha, to speed up the collection process of biometric details in Cuttack. “We have decided to set up six nodal centres at various locations to expedite collection of biometric details for the Aadhaar cards in Cuttack. These centres will start collection of biometric details from February 14,” said deputy commissioner of the municipal corporation Manmath Kumar Biswal.