Taking advantage of this agents have started fleecing people, charging them anything between Rs 250 and 300 for generation of an Aadhaar card, which is supposed to be issued free of charge.
The Centre’s decision to link Aadhaar with several welfare schemes has sent alarm bell ringing in West Bengal which already lags behind in generating Aadhar cards. Taking advantage of this agents have started fleecing people, charging them anything between Rs 250 and 300 for generation of an Aadhaar card, which is supposed to be issued free of charge.
DNA correspondent visited several such centres posing as potential ‘customers’ and spotted many irregularities. At one such centre at Sir Syed Ahmed Road the receptionist after explaining the technicalities and pre-requisites said that we would need to pay an amount of Rs 300 for the card. The correspondent then revealed his identity and asked the person in-charge, Muzaffar Hossain what the charge was for, he said, “The charges are for making a smart card of the Aadhaar and for prompt delivery. We don’t charge for anything else,” he maintained.
Two of the applicants who were still at the office, however, differed with him. Amit Sharma, a resident of Garia had come to update his phone number said, “I was asked to pay Rs 300 for inclusion of the update and was not given any receipt.”
The case of Subhudeep Saha of Jheel Road in Jadavpur was different. “I lost my card and I hve come for that. He has charged me Rs 100 for that , and did no issue any receipt,” he told DNA.
All the other Centres across the city charged a flat rate of Rs 300 but the most interesting was a centre run by state government officials. The Taltala dispensary and Ward 54 health unit of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) at 3 Girish Chandra Bose road Kolkata 14 is being used as a centre for generating Aadhaar cards. When this correspondent reached the place, one of the officials said that a form needed to be to be procured from the photocopy shop opposite the KMC office. The man at the photocopy shop who called himself Abdullah was sitting with one SK Banerjee who said that he was an official of the KMC and would get the Aadhaar card done without having to stand at the queue for hours, against Rs 250. “Under normal circumstances people come here at 4 am because only 40 cards are made everyday but if you want to hurry it up, you need to pay. It is the same as doctors at a government hospital and their services at private clinics,” Banerjee said adding that people would have to go through Abdullah because he needed to have his share as well.
A senior official of the secretariat said that they needed people to put in a complaint against these renegade officers. “Legal steps can be taken against these centres and their kits can be confiscated but we need people to put in official complaints first,” he said adding that the centres were not supposed to charge anything for generating an Aadhaar card.
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