As Aadhaar deadline nears, queues at centres start as early as 4 am

At some centres, people are queuing up at 4 am to obtain tokens for the enrollment. At others, queues are seen for taking appointments that stretch for as much one month. (Express photo)

The centre at Pragati Maidan opens its gates for enrollment at 10 am but some of the people have been waiting since daybreak. The security guard has already distributed 120 tokens to people. Now assured that no one will jump ahead of them in the queue, some of them try to rest on the couple of uncomfortable steel benches outside the centre’s gates. They wait under the shade of the Metro staircase and the area is covered with heavy canvas screens to save the people from the harsh sun and sporadic showers of recent weeks.

People rest outside the Pragati Maidan Aadhaar enrollment centre. (Express photo)

Kavita Bhadana has come with her 10-year-old son Jaiveer from Najafgarh 32 km away. “It’s not too difficult to reach here. But we left at 4 in the morning. The Metro hadn’t started functioning by then and so we left in the dark, took a taxi (Kavita isn’t too comfortable using Ola and Uber) and arrived in the dark. It was only around 5 am when we reached. Still, my token number is 82. I’m told our turn will come by evening. What can we do. They (government) have made it mandatory for [almost] everything. Even the schools are demanding Aadhaar now.”

Many people face disappointment as they are turned away from the Aadhaar enrollment centres. (Express photo)

Every few minutes people come to enquire about the enrollment, but they face disappointment as they are told to return the following day between 4-6 am to collect tokens for enrollment. Some try to grease the fingers of guards but they are turned away. Others offer plea for urgent enrollment, but to no avail.

Aadhaar enrollment centres display list of authorised centres where people can visit and try to get themselves enrolled. Some applicants clicked pictures of the entire list in hope of getting enrolled at one. (Express photo)

The management has put a list of Aadhaar centres where applicants scammer to click photographs of the huge list. But officials tell us there is the odd case of VIP enrollment where the queue is bypassed.

Few elderly people entered into an argument with the security staff and UIDAI officials for not keeping a separate arrangement for senior citizens. (Express photo)

Krishanpal Garg, visibly in his late 50s, has picked an argument with a guard. “How do you expect us to reach so early in the morning. There needs to be some arrangement for senior citizens too.” Other elderly sitting besides him see this as an opportunity to make their case for consideration. They demand to meet the officials doing the enrollment but they refuse. UIDAI officials tell them that the organisation only issues the cards and has no direct operational role in enrollment adding that it is done by authorised agencies.

Aadhaar enrollment centres are being operated by enrollment agencies and UIDAI has no role in the physical enrollment process. UIDAI issues the Aadhaar numbers and provides the online and offline setup to assist agencies in enrolling individuals. (Express photo)

UIDAI’s ADG communications refuses to speak on the issue saying any statement about UIDAI or Aadhaar will come from the Bengaluru head office. Another senior UIDAI official says: “It takes about 15 minutes to process the application of a person and we are able to get around 120-125 people enrolled in a day.” He adds that most of the people were waiting for the court’s decision on Aadhaar. “Now, they are clammering to enrol for Aadhaar as they have awaken to its need.”

Some parts of the list were torn off from the wall causing irritation among the people present at the centre. (Express photo)

Some do, however, use their position or clout to bypass the set procedures to get their work done. “We’ve had so many politicians, leaders coming in recent days to enrol. Even a High Court Judge got enrolled a couple of days ago. Now they don’t have any option. For instance, people need to fill their tax returns and need Aadhaar or enrollment IDs. The deadline is end of this month. Such deadlines have caused the rush.”

The Aadhaar enrollment centre in Pragati Maidan is located inside the office complex of the UIDAI regional office. UIDAI works with the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeITY) and the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology. (Express photop)

Unlike other centres, the applicants are not haggling over each other. “Queue management is very important. If we don’t issue tokens, people either try to jump the queue or are forced to stand in their place for hours. Whenever a person steps out of the queue, he is forced to return to the back. Moreover, fights broke out often; this is the best way to keep things in order.”

The Aadhaar enrollment centre at Pragati Maidan has kept a separate queue for women for enquiries. Enrollment are done without any such distinction. (Express photo)

Asked about the reason the city’s centre’s were unable to handle the issue, the official said, “The enrollments are being done CSC, NSDL, some banks and other enrollment agents. UIDAI had found many agents who were corrupt or had started misusing enrollment devices. Some were taking money for enrollment while others were taking the machines of say Connaught Place to Dwarka and operating it with monetary profit. We have fined all of them and closed many centres. Some reports floated that people were trying to bypass the software. We have put a fine of Rs 1 lakh on those even attempting to tamper with it or bypass it. As we know, it is secure. The delay from our side is only when the portal is down for maintenance.”

UIDAI told us that from next month authorised centres may increase working hours to 7am-7pm and would work even on Sundays to tackle the rush. “In this centre, we have asked for five more machines and UIDAI is now training all the operators directly and monitoring enrollment procedures.”

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