Ganga Devi of Podanur spent four hours on a Sunday in September 2013 to apply for Aadhar card hoping that the card would reach her. But she was mistaken. Her card and 24 of those who had applied were found dumped on a vacant plot near Plague Mariamman Koil on the Podanur-Nanjundapuram Road on Monday.
D. Mathan Kumar, a laboratory technician, found the cards when he was on way to wash his motorcycle. “I found the cards on the vacant land when I had parked the vehicle there to attend nature’s call,” he said.
He immediately clicked pictures of the cards, and then informed his friend J. Daniel.
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Mr. Kumar said that the cards were lying around along with envelopes. They had the Rs. 5 stamp on them.
He immediately collected the cards, wondered what to do and then based on Mr. Daniel’s suggestion handed them over to B. Sadiq, a two-wheeler mechanic, to whose shop he was proceeding.
He said that he decide to handover the cards to Mr. Sadiq because his shop was close to the residences of those who had applied for the Aadhar card.
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Mr. Kumar and he then called up a few persons, taking phone numbers from Aadhar cards. A few responded and others did not. In a few cases, the numbers were switched off, Mr. Sadiq said and added that he chose to retain the cards with him so that he could distribute the same in the next few days.
Mr. Daniel, who spearheads the protest against the Coimbatore Corporation’s Vellalore dump yard, said it was sad to see how the authorities concerned treated the distribution of the Aadhar card, for which people spent hours filling up application forms and getting their details entered.
District Collector Archana Patnaik said that those in possession of the cards could handover the same to her office at the Collectorate for safe distribution.