Residents of the city will get their resident identity cards (RIC) by the end of this year or early next year.
The Directorate of Census Operations, Tamil Nadu, which started enrolling people through biometric camps, will complete collecting biometric and demographic data of the residents in Thousand Lights, Purasawalkam, Egmore and Nungambakkam by the end of this month. The collection of biometric data for all areas in the city will be completed by June.
The project to prepare biometric data, including finger prints, iris and photograph, of the residents under the National Population Register was started in December last year along with Chennai Corporation. Officials of the directorate of census operations said that the biometric camps would help in collecting data of residents for issuing resident identity card, which is a smart card with a micro-processor chip containing information on other proof of identity documents.
Of the total 41.53 lakh people who will be covered, nearly 51,000 residents’ details have been collated so far. At present, the biometric camps to issue resident identity cards with unique identification number are being conducted in 14 different locations.
All city residents aged above five are being covered in the biometric data collection camps. Even those who have obtained Aadhar numbers from the postal department and banks have to provide details under the NPR to get their cards.
Krishna Rao, Joint Director, Directorate of Census Operations, said that “We are training enumerators to conduct camps in zone 5 (Royapuram) and zone 6 (Thiru.Vi.Ka.Nagar). The camps will start by next week. We want to complete the process by June to enable issuing of the smart card.”
Enumerators would visit the residents of every ward and provide them with a Know your Residents plus form with information on the family members and date and venue of the camps. “Residents need not carry any documents other than the form as information on ration card, driving license and passport number would have been already collected,” an official said.
Mr. Rao said that residents could make corrections on the data being registered in both English and Tamil during the camps to avoid mistakes in the RIC.
Once this exercise is completed, residents would get a card with their unique identification number called ‘Aadhaar’ by post. After verification of data, the list would be displayed at designated centres to enable residents to check errors. The Bangalore-based BHEL would provide the RIC with micro-chip containing integrated data from all other identity cards.
The directorate has completed data collection process in five districts, including Ariyalur and Karur. While 25 per cent of people have been covered in Kancheepuram, 7 per cent of the people have undergone biometric process in Tiruvallur district.
Officials said that the RIC will serve as proof of identity anywhere in the country and the unique number envisages the elimination of fake identities.
The government plans to make it a multi-purpose card which can be used as proof to access the state government’s welfare schemes.
