Assam: Many not getting Aadhaar as biometric details locked due to NRC

The Assam government is pursuing with the Centre the issue of non-issuance of Aadhaar cards to “many eligible people” whose biometric details were locked during the process of updating National Register of Citizens(NRC), news agency PTI reported on Tuesday. Aadhaar card is necessary for availing benefits of welfare schemes.

During the claims and objections phase of the NRC, biometrics of over 27 lakh applicants were collected out of which 19 lakh names were not included in the final draft of the NRC published on August 31, 2019.

According to the report, these people are now facing problems in getting Aadhaar cards as their biometric data have been locked as per a directive of the Supreme Court, which is overseeing the NRC exercise.

General Administration Department (GAT) Minister Ranjeet Kumar Dass informed the Assembly that the state government is aware that many eligible people are facing problems in availing benefits of welfare schemes due to the absence of Aadhaar cards which are mandatory to be linked to their bank accounts for receiving the benefits.

The state government has written at least twice to the Centre in the last two years, requesting the government to allow the Aadhaar card issuing authority to access the biometric details of at least those people whose names had figured in the final draft NRC, he said.

“The chief minister had himself brought up this issue in the state Cabinet and a sub-committee has been formed to discuss the way forward with different organisations,” the minister said.

With inputs from PTI