Complete ‘Aadhaar’ enrolment by March 31, says Governor

Tribune News Service

Jammu, February 1

Governor NN Vohra today reviewed the progress of enrolment under the National Population Register (NPR) and issuance of ‘Aadhaar’ cards.

The meeting, held at Raj Bhawan, was attended by BR Sharma, Chief Secretary; PK Tripathi, Principal Secretary to Governor; and Hirdesh Kumar, Commissioner, Information Technology.

The Governor was informed that of the population of 1,25,41,302, the record had been digitised in respect of 1,09,43,114 persons.

He was informed that 84,00,233 persons had been enrolled and ‘Aadhaar’ cards had already been issued to 67,69,272 persons.

He was informed that to expedite the process of enrolment, 133 additional permanent enrolment centres had been sanctioned in the state in addition to the 193 centres already established.

Appreciating the work done in the districts which had recorded good progress, the Governor directed the Chief Secretary to personally monitor the progress in respect of districts lagging behind.

The Chief Secretary stated that he would hold a video-conference with Deputy Commissioners on February 4 and undertake a district-wise review.

The Governor was informed that enumerator block tracker had been provided to Deputy Commissioners to find the population which was yet to be enrolled.

The Information Technology Department had provided local register of usual residents. NPR booklets of districts and NPR update process was almost complete except in snow-bound areas.

It was also stated that a special enrolment drive was started in schools, colleges, universities and other educational institutions on January 10. About 1 lakh students had been enrolled in 2,242 such camps.

The Governor stated that Deputy Commissioners must take proactive steps to approach uncovered persons for targeted enrolment of the persons left over under ‘Aadhaar’.

The Governor directed the Chief Secretary to ensure that all employees, daily wagers, casual labourers and seasonal labourers working in various departments under the state government got enrolled under ‘Aadhaar’ before March 31 so that salaries and wages from April 1 were paid on the basis of ‘Aadhaar’.

The Governor reviewed the progress of seeding of ‘Aadhaar’ in citizen-centric schemes, particularly with regard to PDS, pensions, scholarships, MGNREGA and Pahal.

Expressing dissatisfaction over poor results, the Governor directed departments to closely monitor the progress of ‘Aadhaar’ seeding for time-bound completion so that people could receive pensions and scholarships on time without inconvenience.

The Chief Secretary was asked to send a fortnightly progress report with regard to district-wise progress of enrolment for ‘Aadhaar’ and seeding under various schemes.

The Governor stated that good performers in various districts should be identified so that they could be suitably recognised for their performance while action should be taken against the non-performers.

The Governor would review the progress on March 1. He reviewed progress with regard to marking of attendance in various government offices.

He directed the Chief Secretary to ensure that biometric attendance systems based on ‘Aadhaar’ were installed in offices immediately to ensure punctuality, accountability and transparency in daily functioning of all government offices.