The rollout of the long-awaited Aadhaar project in Assam will finally start in in the first part of October, with the State Registrar – the General Administration Department (GAD) – issuing work orders to the six shortlisted firms.
Although work on the project was supposed to have started in August, it got delayed due to some official procedures.
“The selected firms have already been handed over the official work orders on September 1 for supplying UIDAI certified machine and operational kits along with one skilled operator per Aadhaar enrolment centre on monthly rental basis. There will be 1,241 such centres spread across all 33 districts of Assam,” Dr M Angamuthu, Commissioner and Secretary (GAD).
The firms would have a year’s time to complete the task assigned to them for enrolling over 3.16 crore residents of the State who are yet to receive their Aadhaar cards.
Out of the over 3.4 crore estimated population of Assam, only 24.34 lakh have had their Aadhaar numbers generated.
Assam has been divided into 10 zones for the project. The GAD has already identified 1,241 enrolment centres across Assam.
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) will be providing funds for the cost of generation of Aadhaar cards for the residents through the Registrar, while the other expenses like consumables and stationary items for the enrolment centres would be borne by the GAD.
Angamuthu said that a review meeting was recently held between the GAD and the Additional Deputy Commissioners who would be monitoring and supervising the entire exercise at the district level.
A first phase training of document-verifying officials, who are government employees (verifiers), was also carried out. One more phase of such training would be conducted both for the verifiers and skilled operators jointly, reports The Assam tribune.
Dr Angamuthu said a series of activities for creating awareness among people on the necessity of Aadhaar cards and the procedure for securing the card has also been planned by the GAD.
