Civil Supplies Minister D. Sridhar Babu has ruled out the possibility of the Government issuing Aadhaar cards to all eligible persons in the State before six months and for at least two months in Ranga Reddy and Hyderabad (Urban) districts. He, however, asserted that the subsidy on LPG refills will somehow be given till then.
He said the Centre was likely to extend its February 15 deadline for grounding the cash transfer scheme for Ranga Reddy and Hyderabad districts for LPG refills by two months, responding to the request made by Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Petroleum Minister M. Veerappa Moily.
An announcement to this effect was expected to be made by Mr. Moily on February 12 after his return from a foreign trip.
At a media conference here on Tuesday, he said till all people were covered by Aadhar cards, the Centre would be requested to keep the cash due to the households in the State as subsidy on LPG refills in separate account so that this cash would get transferred automatically to the LPG connection holders when they opened bank accounts after getting the cards.
Mr. Sridhar Babu appealed to the people, particularly in Ranga Reddy and Hyderabad districts, not get panicky and approach Aadhar registration centres as February 15 deadline was being extended. However, 200 more Aadhar registration centres would be opened afresh in these two areas immediately, adding to the 202 already functioning.
He attributed the delay in issuing Aadhar cards to time taken in generating unique identity number for the person registered and in feeding the data later to banks. The job could not be completed in Ranga Reddy and Hyderabad due to people migrating from other areas.
