Poor will suffer, privacy also a concern: Mamata

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday flayed the Centre for making Aadhaar mandatory for opening bank accounts, saying it would make the poorest of the poor the worst sufferers.

"The poorest of the poor, the marginalised people will be the worst sufferers if #Aadhaar is made mandatory unilaterally," Banerjee said in a tweet.

Banerjee also questioned privacy issues linked to the Aadhaar card and said that the Centre must assure the security of the citizens of the country before making it mandatory.

"#Aadhaar has serious issues about privacy. Govt must not make it mandatory before 100% coverage is achieved," the chief minister said.

Banerjee had earlier criticised the Centre's decision to make Aadhaar cards mandatory for availing the mid-day meal scheme and accused it of snatching the rights of the poor.

She had alleged that rather than supporting the poor, the Centre was snatching away their rights.

The government has made quoting of biometric identity number of Aadhaar mandatory for the opening of bank accounts as well as for any financial transaction of Rs 50,000 and above.

The government on Friday made quoting of biometric identity number Aadhaar mandatory for the opening of bank accounts as well as for any financial transaction of Rs 50,000 and above.

Existing bank account holders have been asked to furnish the Aadhaar number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) by December 31, 2017, failing which the account will cease to be operational, according to a revenue department notification.

The government in Budget 2017 has already mandated seeding of Aadhaar number with Permanent Account Number to avoid individuals using multiple PANs to evade taxes.

The notification issued amending the Prevention of Money- Laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules, 2005, mandated quoting of Aadhaar along with PAN or Form 60 by individuals, companies and partnership firms for all financial transactions of Rs 50,000 or above.

Tightening the rules for small accounts, which can be opened without having officially valid KYC documents, the amendment said such accounts - which can have a maximum deposit of Rs 50,000, can be opened only at bank branches which have core banking solution.

It can also be opened at a branch where it is possible to manually monitor and ensure that foreign remittance is not credited to such account and stipulated limits on a monthly and annual aggregate of transactions and balance are not breached, the amended PMLA rules said.

Such small account shall remain operational initially for a period of 12 months and thereafter for a similar period if the account holder provides evidence that he or she has applied for officially valid identification documents.

The amendment makes it mandatory for individuals, companies and partnership firms to quote Aadhaar along with PAN or Form 60 for all financial transactions of Rs 50,000 or above with effect from June 1.