In IT city, the process of enrolments for the unique identification numbers under Aadhaar appears to be marred with glitches.
The enrolment centres — Bangalore has 412 run by four agencies — have not kept pace with the spike in demand for Aadhaar numbers or cards.
Government officials are concerned that the project has not been scaled up in Bangalore, and even existing centres continue to run with a limited number of enrolment stations.
A senior government official, working on the implementation of the Union government project in Karnataka, told The Hindu that over the next few weeks the government will undertake “quick, drastic measures” to put the house in order.
Over the next week, the official said, the department of e-governance will be setting up seven dedicated centres for online appointments. These centres will enrol all those from across the city who make their appointments online.
“The system of having one kiosk to cater to online appointments in a general centre is creating chaos in the centres. We have received many complaints. That is why we decided to separate the two and set up online appointment-based centres,” the official explained.
The e-governance department also plans to float EOI (Expression of Interest) to identify potential contractors for expanding the project. Officials said that EOI notices will be put out over the next fortnight. The official conceded that the enrolment process here has not been scaled up according to plan, and lagged in comparison to other cities.
The four private agencies chosen through a tendering process have been unable to build the technical and manpower capabilities to scale up their processes.
“We had hoped that the 412 centres will slowly be scaled up to at least 600, but this has not happened. We are looking into this. Some of our plans were held up due to the Election Code of Conduct, but this is being set right now,” the official added.
More contractors
With the fresh tender, the government hopes to identify at least five more contractors, taking the number of enrolment centres to 800.
“We are aware of the chaos that has been created. Things got worse after some oil companies sent SMS to people informing them that their LPG supply will be linked to Aadhaar. This misinformation created panic,” he explained.
