Shortage of machine operators in rural areas affects UID work

Despite the Union Government's order last month to speed up arrangements to issue UID-AADHAAR cards to beneficiaries of various governmental schemes on priority basis, only 30 per cent of the rural population has fulfilled the necessaryformalities.

This time around, it is not a shortage of UID machines behind the process going slow, but because machine operators refuse to work in rural areas, which have a high number of beneficiaries.u00a0

MiD DAY article, “Only 2 per cent work on phase II completed’, published on September 21 revealed how the limited number of machines provided by the non-governmental agencies was hampering the task.

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So far only 30 per cent work has done in rural areas of the district, while 44 per cent and 36 per cent has been completed by the district election office in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad respectively under Phase I and II. Phase I was completed last year, while Phase II was kicked off in June this year.

Stressing on the need for speed, the Centre announced that an AADHAAR card is mandatory to avail benefit of the various governmental schemes, as funds would be directly transferred to the bank account of the beneficiary. u00a0Beneficiaries needing to open a new bank account, or seeking to have the money credited into an existing account would have to enrol for a card.

Reacting on the issue, Deputy District Election Officer Apurva Wankhede, who has additional charge of looking after the UID card scheme, said, “We have finalised the number of beneficiaries of various governmental schemes in the district and begun working on the cards.

These will be submitted to beneficiaries on a priority basis through centres in the district. We have even tried sending machine operators from the city to the various talukas in the district to speed up the UID card process. However, these operators are not prepared to work in the rural areas.”

Wankhede, who is the district in-charge of Aadhar Yojna, said earlier that 80 per cent work of Phase II would be completed by March 2013.u00a0

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