நவம்பர் 21 முதல் கோயம்புத்தூர் அஞ்சலகங்களில் ஆதார் கார்டு சேவை
.துவக்கம் .
Aadhaar: Lack of publicity, awareness
slacken people's participation
Where
does one go for availing
of the Central Government's Aadhaar identity card is what Coimbatore residents
want to know. For, most are not aware of the addresses where the enrolment centres
function in the city.
The residents asked the question not after the
project was first launched or when the District Collector M. Karunakaran
launched the project in the district on September 15 this year but only after
they read the Union Petroleum Ministry announcement in newspapers that the
Aadhaar card was a necessary document to avail of LPG refills.
An officer associated with the Unique
Identification Authority of India project admits to the failure to publicise
the addresses. One of the reasons, he cites for the poor response, is the lack
of suitable places within the city limits.
Only if the service providers have a suitable
place will they be in a position to advertise the venue and the service
offered. This has been the handicap. The service providers even tried hiring
wedding halls but they could not get it for long periods because of wedding and
other bookings.
To overcome the problem, the service providers
have approached the Coimbatore Corporation, School Education Department and
private education institutions for space.
Even as the service providers are grappling for
space, they are now concentrating in rural parts of the district. In the coming
days, they will take the help of school heads and village-level officers.
At present, the service providers are in about 50
places in the district. They will add another 40 in the coming days. And there
will be more service providers too. India Post has joined the
latest list of service providers.It will launch its service for issue of
Aadhaar card on November 21 at the Coimbatore Head Post Office and then extend
the service to other post offices in the district. It has also made available online the
enrolment form on www.tamilnadupost.nic.in
Secretary of Coimbatore Consumer Cause K.
Kathirmathiyon urged the district officials to increase the number of enrolment
centres and the facilities therein as early as possible, as the public have now
started making a beeline to these centres fearing disruption of LPG supply.
City needs to have more enrolment centres and moreover they need to be
publicised well. In addition, the publicity for the same should include the
locations and also the procedures involved besides the documents required. Many
applicants were being turned down for want of documents, resulting in poor
compliance, despite the willingness.
Some of the centres in the city have limitations
in terms of turning down the applications because of capacity constraints in
handling more than 100 or 250 applicants a day.
In addition, Mr. Kathirmathiyon welcomed the
decision to make Aadhaar or UID mandatory for availing of LPG services, as it
would help eliminate bogus beneficiaries and misuse of subsidy. He found fault
with the timing of the decision to make it mandatory. UID or the Aadhaar
initiative has just begun and has not been completed. Government should
increase the number of enrolment centres and make the process public- friendly.
If the public failed to enrol and comply with
the initiative, then making it mandatory after a six to eight month period
i.e., after June 2012 is understandable. Without taking the scheme to the
people, making it mandatory will have counter-productive results and lead to
the very collapse of the initiative, he cautioned.
The State Government/District Administration
should be involved in the process, so that the enrolment process could be taken
closer to people and the desired results could be achieved, say officials.
நன்றி - ஹிந்து 07.11.11
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