Kakinada: 10,000 fishermen yet to receive biometric cards

Kakinada: The Central government has stopped issuing biometric cards to fishermen despite the repeated security alerts in East Godavari district.

Nearly 10,000 fishermen are yet to receive biometric identity cards that can be accessed by authorized agencies in the district. Fisheries Department Deputy Director PV Satyanarayana told The Hans India that the biometric cards had been proposed by the Central government in 2009 following the terror attack in Mumbai in 2008.

He said that the Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) generates the cards and handovers the dame to the fisher folk in the district. He said that 90 per cent of the fishermen were issued the biometric cards , but in the wake of the decision taken by the Central government the rest of the 10 percent will not be issued the biometric cards.

There are 10,000 fishermen waiting to be issued biometric cards and they have addressed a letter to the higher officials for issuing the same without any hurdle or objection. But, officials have stated that they are going to issue Aadhar cards beside QR code, but declined to issue biometric cards.

Moreover, the biometric cards are of no use as the Aadhar card contains full details regarding the individual and it will be full for all purposes. According to the official, there 3,03,000 marine fishermen in the district.

And 60, 168 fishermen are in active roles. He said that they issued 50,220 biometric cards to the fishermen in the district.