Brokers make Rs 500 on ‘free’ Aadhaar cards
Aadhaar enrolment centres across the city are ruled by brokers while officials of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and the civil supplies department remain mute spectators.
In spite of the process of securing the Aadhaar card being free, the middlemen collect up to `500 for each enrolment and promise applicants that they would get their cards at the earliest.
With the Centre deciding to extend the Aadhaar-based direct cash transfer scheme to beneficiaries from January 1, the demand for Aadhaar cards has increased exponentially and the brokers are taking full advantage.
The pilot programme will be implemented in five districts in Andhra Pradesh from January 1: Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy, East Godavari, Anantapur and Chittoor.
Sources alleged a nexus between brokers and staff at Aadhaar centres. Though application forms are supposed to be provided free of cost, applicants are forced to pay up to `100 for them.
The situation has become so bad, say sources, that brokers are seeking “bulk orders” from people in apartments and residential colonies by promising them to get the Aadhaar cards issued within days.
People complain that the staff at Aadhaar enrolment centres also encourage the applicants to approach brokers by rejecting their enrolment citing one reason or the other.
The UIDAI has appointed several agencies to take up Aadhaar enrolment and lower-rung staffers at these centres are being lured by brokers who offer attractive commissions on each enrolment made by them.
“When I went to the Aadhaar enrolment centre in Kapra, I was denied enrolment citing lack of proper address proof. When I approached them through a broker by paying `500, my job was done easily,” said Mr P. Somashekar, a resident of Kapra.
Brokers at Barkatpura, Tarnaka, Ramanthapur, Panjagutta are meanwhile taking “bulk orders” from local residents to get Aadhaar cards issued by collecting `300 per enrolment if they approach them in blocks.
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