450 permanent Aadhaar centres to come up in TN

CHENNAI: If you have missed getting an Aadhaar card, here is another opportunity to enrol yourself. The Census department will set up 450 permanent enrolment centres in taluks, municipalities and corporations by November 15. In Chennai, 15 zonal offices and 35 unit offices will get the centres.
The delay in covering the entire population has caused some hiccups in the state machinery as the government would have to rely on the biometric database for its proposed smart ration cards.The cards presently in circulation were issued in 2005 and their validity extended with additional sheets since 2010. Civil supplies department sources said the database being used for printing cards and for effecting changes in the number of members in a family and addresses was outdated.
While the Aadhaar drive began with much fanfare in 2011, 26.11% of the 6.74 crore eligible population are yet to be covered. “From January 1 onwards, the permanent centres will take care of those left out. We are holding talks with the state government to offer space for these centres,” Directorate of Census Operations (Tamil Nadu and Puducherry) joint director R V Krishna Rao said. These permanent centres will have private operators to capture photographs, iris images and ten finger prints.
Only six out of 32 districts have surpassed 80% coverage, Rao said. Perambalur, Ariyalur, Nagapattinam, Trichy, Erode and Ramanathapuram districts top the list, while Chennai comes last with only 63% of its population covered till last week. The exercise began through nationalized banks and post offices under the direct supervision of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). The Census department took over in 2012 under its National Population Register and began capturing the biometric parameters.