04 August,2011 07:47 AM IST | | Parth Satam
Ward officers say processing of too many applications per day damaging machines and overburdening government staff
The Centre may pat itself on its back for its 'unique' Unique Identification (UID) project, but it didn't foresee the massive public response and the ensuing strain on government agencies.
Stretched to the limit: A UID centre near Kamla Nehru Park in Deccan.
The centres change after work in a particular area is completed.
Pic/Krunal Gosavi
Municipal officers from the various centres throughout the city said there was acute shortage of processing machines. So, residents were flocking in massive numbers to the centres that are equipped with such machines thus putting additional strain on a single machine.
Officials said that residents from other ward offices could not be turned away. According to an official from the Ghole Road ward office, which has two UID centers, each machine can process about 50 to 60 applications every day which often has to be stretched beyond its technical capacity.
"Whenever the queues are long, the work finishes only after 7 pm, which is when we give token numbers to each individual. These queues often consist of people from other ward offices either because they want to escape the long queues there or simply because they have heard of it. Thus each machine often processes more than 60 applications, which might cause damage. The crowding is also unbearable," said the official.
A ward office has nine machines and the centres keep changing after work at a particular area is completed. The machines print a receipt showing the application number and other details after recording the digital thumb impression and eye scan. The ward office currently has a centre at the Kamla Nehru Park, Gokhale Nagar and Shivajinagar Gaothan. The office needs around 22 machines and has processed about 22,208 applications till date.
The Tilak Road ward office also faces a similar situation and officers said machines often slowed down because of overwork. An officer requesting anonymity said that one machines takes about 10 to 15 minutes to process an application and the overload reduced the speed. "People in the queue become irate and then start complaining.
At a centre with two machines, 120 to 150 applications can be processed and three machines can process 180 to 200 applications a day," the official said. The office has sent 34, 861 applications till July 26. The UID's are mailed to the postal address provided by the applicant within two to three months of application.
