How important is an election identity card for the district collectorate? If those working at the Citizens Facilitation Centre,better known as CFC or Nagrik Suvidha Kendra run by the district collectorate,are to be believed,election identity card is not as important or more important than the electricity bill. This is what 65-year-old Shalinibai Baban Dhage has been told by employees at the CFC. I have been asked to get an electricty bill showing residential address, says Dhage,who spent hours together for getting a senior citizens certificate which will help her get concession for travel by State Transport buses. I stood in the queue for submitting the requisite forms for hours together. Now I will have to again stand in the queue and submit the electricity bill, says Dhage. The woman has received a letter carrying the stamp and signature of the tehsildar. The letter says: your application has been rejected and that the applicant should make available the current residential address. When she went to enquire at the CFC,the woman was told get an electricity bill. But my election identity card carries the full address. I had already submitted that at the CFC, she said. The question is: why is the election identity card of the Election Commission of India one of the most vital Constitutional arm of our democracy carrying the full residential address not acceptable at the CFC? Residential deputy collector Prakash Kadam says the application might have been rejected because the election identity card must be an old one. But the election identity card was issued to Dhage on 30.4.2008 which means it is not an old one. A note at bottom of the card says: This card may be used as an identity card under different government schemes. If it is not an old one,then I think the application should not be rejected, the deputy collector said. He said the staff at CFC which works on contract is not aware of the fact that an election I-card is acceptable. Kadam said the senior citizen will have to meet tehsildar Jyoti Kadam or deputy collector Jayshree Katare. Now this means against I have to make it to the district collectorate all the way from Pimpri-Chinchwad, says Dhage.
