LAGATAR24 NETWORK
Daltonganj, Aug. 11: The Palamu district administration has sent a report to the State’s Information Technology department for initiating action against three operators of the Aadhar card centres here.
The report is based on a probe conducted by Project Officer Uday Pratap Singh following orders of Deputy Development Commissioner (DDC) Ravi Anand.
The three such dishonest operators of the Aadhar card are Jaish Kumar Mehta, Samoj Kumar and Hussain Ansari.
The IT department of the Jharkhand government has been recommended to strip these three of the works of Aadhar card.
DDC Ravi Anand told this correspondent, “We used to receive complaints about these three Aadhar card operators at regular intervals.”
The complaints were of a varied nature. It extended from charging more fees than the prescribed ones. Besides, the operators used to harass and add inconvenience to the residents badly, added the DDC.
Anand said there were complaints where demographic features and biometric features of the residents were attempted to be mismatched deliberately and with evil intentions.
The DDC said, “We are going to search more and more Aadhar card operators to verify if they are indulging in other forms of malpractices.”
The district project officer said, “Jaish Kumar Mehta is an Aadhar card operator at Lehar Banjari panchayat under Untari Road block in Palamu. Mehta used to run his Aadhar card centre at his house there. Here Mehta was flouting the regulations of the UIDAI.”
UIDAI rules state that the Aadhar card centre is to be run at the respective Panchayat Bhavan and not at the house of the operator in the villages as personal holding is simply prohibited.
The project officer said Mehta was found working in utter defiance of the rules of the UIDAI.
The other Aadhar card operator is Samoj Kumar of Shahpur panchayat under the Naudeeha Bazaar block who too like Mehta runs his Aadhar card centre at his house, said the project officer, adding his black listing has also been referred to the IT department of Jharkhand government.
About the third Aadhar card operator Hussain Ansari, the project officer said, ” We received complaints about Ansari from the IT department itself. Ansari’s case was different. I inquired about his centre. Ansari was working on his whims and fancies.”
The district project officer conceded the Aadhar card operators are charging more fees than prescribed.
There is no fee at all for first-time making of an Aadhar card. It is to come all free. Here the operators bluntly charge Rs 150 and residents just pay it which is wrong.
It is only Rs 50 for demographic updates like correction in the spelling of the name of the resident, address, mobile number, photo of the resident etc. For the biometric updates, it is Rs 100 officially.
However, for a new Aadhar card or for any update demographically or biometrically the unfair operator charges a flat Rs 150 to Rs 200.
The district project officer said, “I found copies of the enrollment form of the residents along with its enlistment slip with the operators against whom I inquired into.”
He made it clear that under no circumstances an operator of the Aadhar card can keep copies of the enrollment form and enlistment form with him as it is to be returned to the resident who seeks either a new Aadhar card or goes for updates on demography or for biometric features.
This is to prevent any leakage of individual data but some over-smart operators of Aadhar card centres just show thumbs to it.
