Aadhaar continues to make news with the state and central governments making it mandatory for any and every scheme and service, but the State’s transport department does not accept it as a valid identification document for the various citizen-centric services it offers.
the goan I network
PANAJI
Speaking on condition of anonymity an official at a Regional Transport Office said that the use of Aadhaar card is not encouraged as the rule book of the department, perhaps drafted before Aadhaar cards came into existence, didn’t specifically mention about the card as one of the specific documents to be accepted as valid for proving one’s identity or residence.
While the government is pushing for usage of Aadhaar cards much to the dislike of the Supreme Court, which had specifically directed that the card cannot be mandatory, the transport department has appeared to have not received any instructions in this regard.
This despite several other state government departments especially that of Social Welfare, Women and Child holding back schemes if beneficiaries’ Aadhaar cards or their bank accounts are
not linked with their Aadhaar cards.
Not just that, even securing a SIM card has become a tedious affair if one does not have an Aadhaar card to produce.
Transport Minister, Ramkrishna Dhavalikar however, said he would look into the issue and if necessary even change the rules. “The transport department is going to see sweeping changes once the new transport bill becomes a law. For the moment, come Monday I will check what is the status of this.”
“The aadhaar card is now becoming increasingly universal. There is no such thing as not accepting an Aadhaar card. If the rules are not in place we will formulate new ones because it is we who make the rules,” Dhavalikar told The Goan.
The Aadhaar card was first mooted to enable transfer of government benefits to eligible beneficiaries in a bid to ensure that there is no duplication and cheating. However, the use has since been expanded to include tax returns. It has also lead to suspicions of government tracking ordinary citizens as well as misuse of Aadhaar data.
