City not Aadhaar-ready
Direct transfer scheme to come into force from May 15
The “Direct Transfer of Cash Subsidy” scheme for domestic LPG consumers will come into force from May 15 in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts, but will cover less than half the consumers.
While there are a total of 25 lakh domestic LPG connections in these districts, only 45 per cent of them have obtained Aadhaar cards so far. The Aadhaar linkage with bank accounts is even worse, with just about 20 per cent of LPG consumers having Aadhaar cards submitting details to banks.
Citizens are running from pillar to post to get their Aadhaar cards, with the May 15 deadline fast approaching. But the civil supplies department which is responsible for Aadhaar, is doing nothing to mitigate the anxiety of lakhs of consumers.
In an attempt to force people to get the Aadhaar cards, the government has linked it to the one commodity no one can do without — cooking gas. Consumers could lose the subsidy on the cylinder amounting to nearly `460 if they don’t have the card by May 15.
The bungling in what the Central government considers its flagship scheme is huge. Thousands of people in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts, which have been chosen for the pilot project, have had to enrol for Aadhaar cards multiple times since 2010 because their cards have not been delivered.
The UIDAI officials last month admitted that enrolment data prior to April 2012 has been lost, and has asked people to go through the arduous process all over again. “When I could not get the card even after I enrolled in December 2011, when can I expect my card if I enrol now? I re-enrolled in last week of April. There is no information on the status of my card on Aadhaar website. It has become a job for me and my family to run around Aadhaar centres,” said B. Krishna Chaitanya of Somajiguda.