Discrepancies in issue of Aadhaar cards

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,  Hyderabad,The Hindu, Oct 2, 2012

Enrolment and the cards generated are more than the population

Hyderabad seems to have achieved a dubious distinction as far as the all important Aadhaar cards are concerned.

Against the population of 40.10 lakh as per the 2011 census, the enrolment so far is 47.98 lakh. And if this surprises you, hold on – the actual number of cards generated are even higher – 49.93 lakh.

No explanation

Civil Supplies authorities do not have a plausible explanation for this strange phenomenon. They think Hyderabadis working in different parts of the country might have indicated their residential address as Hyderabad resulting in the enrolment and Aadhaar card generation figure exceeding the population.

However, they refuse to part with the district wise enrolment figures and instead give the combined enrolment figures for Hyderabad and the neighbouring Ranga Reddy district.

Accuracy of data

Some officials also suspect the accuracy of the census data since the number of people who came out for enrolment are far more.

As of now, 18 lakh persons in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts remain to be enrolled. Authorities hope to cover them by March 31. So far a total of 74.92 lakh Aadhaar cards have been generated and delivered out of the enrolled 85.45 lakh. The State capital and the adjoining Ranga Reddy district has combined population of 93.07 lakh.

The Civil Supplies Department is operating 29 centres with 61 kits in both the districts.

Aadhaar card registration centres are also being operated in Adilabad, Srikakulam, East Godavari and municipal areas of Kurnool, Mahabubnagar, Nalgonda, Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Khammam, Warangal and Medak.

Statistics show that 5.05 crore persons have been enrolled in the State out of the population of 8.47 crore.

Of this 4.62 crore cards were generated while 4.45 crore delivered through post offices.

One can check up the status of one’s Aadhaar card by logging on to the website uidai.gov.in and entering the 14 digit enrolment ID.