KMC to start Aadhaar enrolment camps in borough offices from May

Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) will start holding camps for Aadhaar enrolment at its borough offices in the city, from the beginning of May.

The decision of the civic body comes in the wake of demand for citizens to introduce such facilities for smooth enrolment and correction of erroneous names, addresses or other details in the Aadhaar cards.

"We have been flooded with requests from citizens, who have claimed that they had paid visits to the designated post offices where such enrolment centres have been set up and many of them had to wait for a long time in queue. Many people have visited our borough offices in recent times, urging us to make arrangements. Following this, we had written to the state government, seeking permission for such arrangements. We have recently got the nod," a senior official of KMC said.

Recently, Municipal Commissioner Khalil Ahmed conducted a meeting with top officials of KMC in this regard.

It may be mentioned that the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) had issued a circular a few months ago, amidst allegations of data leakage barring a number of agencies from being involved in the Aadhaar enrolment process.

There were more than twenty private agencies working under KMC for Aadhaar enrolment. However, after the circular, the civic body was compelled to stop such enrolment process. As per data available with KMC, 80 percent of the population in KMC area have got their Aadhaar cards and 20 percent are yet to receive the same. Added to this, the people gather in the enrolment centres for correction in their cards, which includes mistakes in names, addresses etc.

According to a senior KMC official, from January till March, only two private agencies were involved in Aadhaar enrolment, but these two agencies have also been deactivated after March 31.

It has been learnt that KMC has already roped in a handful of valid agencies under UIDAI for conducting the exercise. "This will be of much help for aged or sick people, who cannot travel long distances for enrolment," a senior KMC official said.