UID: Deadline for halfway mark near,BMC behind schedule

While the original deadline for the city to finish maximum enrolment is March 2012,officials are hoping the Centre will extend it. The BMC has appointed five IT firms to carry out the project that started on January 26. One hundred and forty two UID centres have been set up across the city,all on municipal school premises. Each centre has about five machines,where a maximum of 250 registrations can be done a day,which means more than 1.1 crore enrolments could have been completed by now. Now,to achieve the 50 per cent target,which is around 62 lakh,BMC has to complete 11 lakh enrolments within 21 days. About 51 lakh enrolment is over.

While the BMC’s disaster management department had been given the responsibility earlier,it was given to the Information Technology Cell two months back. Officials said a major reason for the slow progress is many citizens being still unaware of the scheme. A senior official from the IT department of BMC said the main problem is inability of these firms to create awareness. “These firms have also been entrusted the responsibility of creating awareness in their areas about the project which is actually very difficult for them considering their limited staff. People should ideally come forward and get their Aadhar card,” he said. In August,Municipal Commissioner Subodh Kumar had written to the state government asking for state-appointed IT vendors to help BMC expedite the process.

The zonewise data for UID enrolments is 3.59 lakh in A,B,C,D and E wards,4.82 lakh in F south,F north,G south and G north,6.65 lakh in H east,H west and K east,8.25 lakh in K west,P south and P north,9.91 lakh in M east,M west and L,10.32 lakh in N,S and T and 6.95 lakh in R south,R north and R central wards.

The UID will be a citizen’s exclusive identification tool that will facilitate opening of bank accounts,booking of tickets on internet,buying ration etc. Besides helping citizens to deal with government institutions,the card will also help the state government ensure all benefits reach the intended people,such as people below the poverty line.