Local and district administration in three districts including Chennai have been advised to intensify biometric enrolment of people for getting Aadhaar numbers.
The decision was taken as enrolment in Chennai, Tirupur and Sivaganga is less than 70 per cent.
Of a total of 6.74 crore eligible people to be covered, around 5.19 crore have been enrolled, accounting for about 77 per cent. Around 4.86 crore people have been assigned Aadhaar numbers, according to M.V. Krishna Rao, Joint Director of the Census Operations.
While Perambalur, considered a backward district, tops the State with over 90 per cent coverage, 11 districts are in the range of 80-90 per cent and 17 districts in the range of 70-80 per cent.
The greater interest to the Aadhaar enrolment is attributed to the government slowly switching over to the bank mode of disbursement for all its beneficiary-oriented schemes which are linked to Aadhaar numbers. For instance, of about 32.5 lakh beneficiaries of social security pension schemes, the data concerning about 10 lakh persons have already been linked.
A senior official says that in Chennai, the lack of publicity about permanent enrolment centres is seen as the reason for the poor performance. Of 62 permanent centres, 50 have been located at ward offices of the Chennai Corporation and the rest at taluk offices.
K. Balu, a resident of Harrington Road, Chetpet here, says he was waiting to get enrolled since November 2013 when he submitted forms for the enrolment but his turn did not come. Some weeks ago, he was told by the local staff of the Chennai Corporation that his name was not found in the official records.
