With the process of recording the biometric data of city residents for issue of national identity cards under the National Population Register programme still moving at a slow pace, the Tiruchi Corporation has appealed to residents to utilise the special camps currently underway to register their data without fail.
Corporation bill collectors have been instructed to monitor the exercise in their respective areas and ensure that all residents were covered.
Though the special camps began on October 15, so far just about 46 per cent of the city population above the age of five have been covered. With the exercise scheduled to end by January 15, Corporation authorities here are turning their focus on drawing more people to the camps. The special camps are being held in a phased manner covering about four to five wards in each of the four zones at a time.
So far the camps have been held in 8 wards in the city. With the process of recording the bio metric data of an individual taking about 20 to 30 minutes, just about 60 persons could be covered on an average in a single recording kit. The city was said to have been allotted 100 kits, but only 64 kits have been deployed currently. Sources said about 15 to 20 additional kits are expected within the next couple of days and the camps would be extended to more wards. Speaking at a meeting to review the exercise here on Wednesday, Corporation Commissioner V.P.Thandapani said 31,147 persons have been covered in four wards in Srirangam zone, 33,662 persons in Ariyamangalam, 22,607 in Golden Rock and 31,447 in K.Abishekapuram zone.
In some of the wards where the first round of the exercise has already been completed, the coverage has been pretty low. In ward 44 in Golden Rock zone, just 46.4 per cent coverage has been achieved while the maximum of 70.9 per cent has been achieved in ward 2 in Srirangam.
Stating that the national identity card was essential for various requirements in future, Mr.Thandapani appealed to the residents to get their data recorded in the special camps without fail. Residents should produce the acknowledgement slip issued during the enumeration of the National Population Register, ration or EPIC cards, driving licence, PAN card, passport or bank passbook as proof of identity.
Those who have already obtained the Aadhaar cards through post offices should also get the national identity cards, he said. Those who were not covered during the enumeration for the National Population Register should obtain the relevant forms from the special camps and submit the filled-in forms at the camps. The biometric data of these people would be recorded in second round.
Though the city has 65 wards with the addition of five new wards consequent to the recent merger of the Tiruverumbur Town Panchayat and few other village panchayats, the exercise now covers only 60 wards.
Officials said the exercise has already been taken up at the five wards while they were under the jurisdiction of other local bodies previously.
