Mumbai: Aadhaar deadline nears, people slam registration infrastructure

For the last two months 42yearold Kishore Iyer has been scouring Mulund West in search of an Aadhaar centre where his wife Vidya 32 and his threeyearold son Aniruddha can get themselves registered His daughter Hamsikaas biometrics too need to be updatedIn the wake of news reports that have made Aadhaar registrations mandatory not just for operation of bank accounts post December 31 but also for school admissions Iyer and his family have realised like the rest of the city that the number of centers where he can get himself registered have shrunkMumbaikars wait outside the Juhu branch of Kotak Mahindra Bank at dawn to bag one of the first 20 tokens for Aadhaar enrolment PicPradeep DhivarThere is an acute scarcity In all of Mulund theres just one centre and that accepts only 20 tokens a day says Iyer who runs a software development business I was told by the person manning the centre that I need to come collect a token And people it seems queue up as early as 3 am to make the cut In 2015 at the height of the registration drive Mumbai had over 450 centres many of them private after getting due permissions from the government Today all private centres have been shut down largely due to a drive that the government itself undertook following numerous complaints that they were charging money for what was supposed to be a free service The number of operational centres today stands at 51As per UIDAI records as on November 30 2017 Maharashtra had a population of 119581739 of which 110660222 had got their Aadhaar accounts activated which is 92 per centPrakash Nadar 41 ran an Aadhaar registration centre at Worli enabled with a ramp for the disabled It opened in June 2016 but was shut down a few months ago He says he is yet to receive the R25 per registration promised by the government PicBipin KokateSudden abrupt shutdownFortyoneyearold Prakash Nadar who ran a registration centre since June 2016 enabled with a ramp to add easeofaccess for the disabled says he was asked to shut his centre a few months ago Nadar who runs a Swabhiman communication centre near the old Passport Office at Worli which includes a public telephone and telefax booth says he would on an average enroll 200 applicants every month He says he still gets repeated inquries about Aadhaar registration since his number is still listed on the government site But we are unable to help anyone Nadar says he has approached the collectors office asking for permission to restart his centre but has been asked to function from a BMC school near Worlis Love Grove pumping station instead This he is not keen on as his present location has necessary arrangements in place for the disabledAssistant Divisional Fire Officer Vishwajeet Nikam 53 hasnt received his November salary He has already made three attempts to register his fingerprints at the Byculla Aadhaar centre mandatory for biometric attendance but says each time he tries recording his fingerprints an error message shows up in the system The fire department has neither been sympathetic nor helpful PicsAtul KambleThe government had invited private firms to open registration centres with the lure of a Rs 25 incentive per enrolment This money however has not reached Nadar And certainly not Sudhir Kavi 35 either Kavi ran a private registration centre in Ghatkopar West and he pegs the investment for procuring kits from government shortlisted suppliers at Rs 80000 We were never paid the Rs 25 In the six months that we ran we registered 300 applicants he adds On charging customers a certain amount he counters that in addition to what setting up the centre cost him he also had to pay a monthly salary of Rs 5000 to two operators With no money coming from the authorities a minimal charge from the applicant was justified Kavi addsBanks step inWith private centres facing the shutters banks and government institutions such as the collector office the BMC ward offices post offices etc are now doubling up as enrolment centres And this is causing the bottleneck because most centres do not take more than 20 people per day Heres how a scene plays out at the citys nationalised and private banks from 430 am onwards People start lining up at the shuttered gates of banks before dawn hoping to be the first to get the token The token confirms your appointment for the day When you get into the bank with proof of identity and address documents along with the form your biometrics are collected You get a receipt with your UIDAI registration which can be used until your Aadhaar card arrives Because there are only limited registrations per day the security guards at banks hand out tokens to the first 20 who arriveKishore IyerIyer says he lucked out when he realised that the centre in Mulund was in fact the bank where he holds an account I asked them to help me procure the token in an expedient manner Even then it took him three weeks to complete the registration There were a lot of hiccups because it seems the Aadhaar site would often get overloaded I think registrations can happen without hindrance if every bank and its branches opens a centre Rohit Rao spokesperson for Kotak Mahindra Bank says that 10 per cent of their branches across the country are now doubling up as enrolment centres On why only 20 tokens are handed out per day he adds Each case takes around 20 to 25 minutes to complete This includes filling up of the form and collecting biometric data Hence in a working day of eight hours we issue an optimal number of tokens to avoid long waiting periods for customersThe spawning of an industryWhere there is difficulty in government procedures private agents will step in midday tracked a private Aadhaar agent Ramesh Oza name changed who promised to visit our home and complete registration formalities against a payment of Rs 1500 Interestingly he says he carries with him the biometric machine However he says he will only operate between Khar and Santacruz With Aadhaar kits now GPS enabled he does not venture far from his core area But Oza says its all above board He wont help you with the documents that are needed to get a registration in the first place I am not into making any documents I can only help those who have valid original documents for identification as stated in UIDAI I scan these and register the applicants as per the normsThe reason for home visits he clarifies is that Some people have to leave home early in the morning for work Some are bedriddendisabled and banks do not give more than 20 tokens in a day so I help However not anyone Oza says can become an operator You need to be registered with the department and they issue an official user ID and password Only such registered facilitators can register an applicant Going to peoples homes and registering them is not illegal A senior state UIDAI official says For the elderly and those who are bedridden we do allow home visits What is not legal however is the charging of fees As per rules the operators are allowed to charge only for updates of biometric details for adults demographic updates and printouts And all of this should cost you only R25 at bestGovt employees worst hitIts counterintuitive After all when making guidelines wouldnt a company ensure that its employees catch up fast Yet at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC over 3000 staffers havent received their November salaries for noncompliance of the mandatory Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System AEBAS But its not necessarily their fault Take the plight of Assistant Divisional Fire Officer Vishwajeet Nikam 53 Attached to the Byculla Mumbai Fire Brigade Head Quarters Nikam is disabled He lost his leg when a tree fell on him in 2008 near the Sales Tax office in MazgaonOn Thursday he was back at the BMCs EWard office in Byculla in his third attempt to register and get his fingerprints recorded In the last two attempts a week after registering my fingerprints the biometric fingerprint reading displayed an error message he says He has written to the Chief Fire Officer as minus the updated fingerprints his attendance does not get registered The Administrative Officer stated that in case of nonpayment of salary the fire department will not be responsible Nikam adds I have been reporting to work daily and I have my attendance marked in the manual register Instead of finding a solution to resolve my problem I am made to run from pillar to post He has now been told that if the third attempt is unsuccessful he will have to go to the UIDAI registered head office in Cuffe Parade else his December salary will also be withheld I have two collegegoing children my life policy premiums groceries instalment for my wheelchair are all due for the month says the worried officer Staff at the BMC headquarters wards and hospitals are also among those who have not been paidAnilraj Kaveskar executive coordinator at BMCs HR Department says individual departments need to take the initiative of installing IRIS scanning facilities which cost approximately Rs 15000 apiece for those employees whose fingerprints dont register But the department concerned will have to bear the cost for their staff he adds Meanwhile the likes of Nikam may have earned themselves a little more time with the Union government last Thursday informing the Supreme Court that it will extend the deadline for linking Aadhaar to bank accounts policies and schemes to March 31 2018 Attorney General K K Venugopal however said the last date for linking Aadhaar to mobile services remains February 6 2018 in pursuance of a judicial orderShould you toe the linePeople will have to abide by the law of the land irrespective of it being valid or invalid constitutionally The Supreme Courts directives will need to be abided by the citizens of this country says Justice A R Lakshmanan former judge Supreme Court of India and former chairman Law Commission of India Senior Advocate Amit Desai says The public does not have the choice to say no to linking their Aadhaar numbers with their bank accounts because the RBI under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act has issued a notification for linking of Aadhaar with bank accountsCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news current affairs from Mumbai local news crime news and breaking headlines hereDownload the new midday Android and iOS apps to get updates on all the latest and trending stories on the go