To overcome the problem of inordinate delay in dispatch of Aadhaar cards to lakhs of people in the state, the Unique Identification Development Authority of India has decided to send Aadhaar unique identification numbers directly to their mobile phones through SMSes. This will allow people to utilise government schemes and other services for the time being. All those who have given a mobile phone number at the time of Aadhaar enrolment, will receive their UID number through SMS.
Despite the UIDAI dispatching 95 lakh Aadhaar cards to AP, over 40 lakh cards are still lying with post offices for onward posting. The post offices say they don’t have enough staff to handle the work. Though UIDAI had established about 3,000 enrolment centres across the state, till date only 3.5 crore people have been enrolled; around four crore are still to be enrolled. In Hyderabad, the centres have managed to enrol nearly 42 lakh citizens and some eight lakh are yet to be enrolled. Most of those who have enrolled are yet to receive their cards.
The large number of complaints from people who enrolled a year ago and have not yet received their cards, and in some cases not even got a UID number, has prompted the UIDAI to send the UID number through mobile phones as a temporary solution. Minister for civil supplies D. Sridhar Babu said that the state government has received a communication from the UIDAI to dispatch cards to all the people who enrolled for Aadhaar in the first phase, by June-end. The first phase enrolment was completed in February this year. The second phase of Aadhaar enrolments is set to begin in AP on April 15.
However, only half of the existing mobile phone users have given their numbers at enrolment centres during the first phase. More emphasis will be laid on persuading people to give their mobile numbers during the second phase of enrolment. Those who don’t have mobile phones should give a relative’s number.