PUNE: Shantabai, who works as a domestic help in the city, had to pay Rs 800 to get an Aadhaar — three days of pay. This is despite the fact that Aadhaar enrollment is free; Rs 50 is payable for updating details such as adding mobile number or updating address.
Shantabai’s problems with the registration were compounded by the lack of certain documents. She also found no official assistance — from the government or close family.
“I was almost duped by the brother of my son’s friend. My daughter is yet to get her Aadhaar and he demanded I shell out Rs 1500 more on top of the Rs 800 I had already paid,” Shantabai said.
It was only last year that she finally managed to get herself enrolled in the system. She hoped for a better link to government services, but nothing has moved on tying up the subsidy part to Aadhaar (because of the lack of documents) and she is close to giving up hope.
People who have an Aadhaar for years said availing government services is sometimes not easy. Spelling mistakes, incorrect birth dates and change in biometric information have been hampering seamless delivery of targeted subsidies — a key purpose of linking Aadhaar to bank accounts and/ or mobile phones.
At the post offices and designated banks across the country, a substantial portion of requests for updates pertain to correcting errors.
“We end up carrying out 20 to 25 updates daily. Over 7 out of 10 pertain to changing the spelling in names, updating the date of birth, etc,” said a bank executive.
At the Aundh post office in the city, when Aadhaar updates open at 3pm every work day, most people try to get their names in the update register. The commotion is palpable. Such is the rush that often half of them have to make at least another visit.
For Sivapriya Raghu, the date of birth was wrongly noted despite her application for a correction. She had to go and get it done the third time — a visit which cost her over Rs 300 in travel and almost six hours for a simple update.
TOI has seen Raghu’s application form (filled by the applicant) and the printed Aadhaar — both show different dates of birth.
Officials admit the rush to enrol gave space for errors to creep into the system.
“Many mistakes crept in due to the huge queues and lack of trained staff. This could have been avoided with better planning,” said an official of UIDAI.
Shantabai’s problems with the registration were compounded by the lack of certain documents. She also found no official assistance — from the government or close family.
“I was almost duped by the brother of my son’s friend. My daughter is yet to get her Aadhaar and he demanded I shell out Rs 1500 more on top of the Rs 800 I had already paid,” Shantabai said.
It was only last year that she finally managed to get herself enrolled in the system. She hoped for a better link to government services, but nothing has moved on tying up the subsidy part to Aadhaar (because of the lack of documents) and she is close to giving up hope.
People who have an Aadhaar for years said availing government services is sometimes not easy. Spelling mistakes, incorrect birth dates and change in biometric information have been hampering seamless delivery of targeted subsidies — a key purpose of linking Aadhaar to bank accounts and/ or mobile phones.
At the post offices and designated banks across the country, a substantial portion of requests for updates pertain to correcting errors.
“We end up carrying out 20 to 25 updates daily. Over 7 out of 10 pertain to changing the spelling in names, updating the date of birth, etc,” said a bank executive.
At the Aundh post office in the city, when Aadhaar updates open at 3pm every work day, most people try to get their names in the update register. The commotion is palpable. Such is the rush that often half of them have to make at least another visit.
For Sivapriya Raghu, the date of birth was wrongly noted despite her application for a correction. She had to go and get it done the third time — a visit which cost her over Rs 300 in travel and almost six hours for a simple update.
TOI has seen Raghu’s application form (filled by the applicant) and the printed Aadhaar — both show different dates of birth.
Officials admit the rush to enrol gave space for errors to creep into the system.
“Many mistakes crept in due to the huge queues and lack of trained staff. This could have been avoided with better planning,” said an official of UIDAI.
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