Anantapur: Middlemen exploit people as Aadhaar centres turn inoperative

Anantapur: Aadhaar Card Centres (ACC) are in big demand in the district due to a host of welfare schemes being implemented by the Andhra Pradesh government and also the Central government.

Aadhaar card is playing an important role in the disbursal of financial benefits to farmers as well as to cross section of people in different trades and professions among the economically weaker sections of the society.

Braving Covid pandemic, people are flocking authorised Aadhaar centres including banks and post offices but they are being turned away by the agencies on the plea that the counters are inoperative due to Covid challenges, much to the chagrin of the people.

The beneficiaries are going to the centres to update their Aadhaar cards with more information and to make amendments in their cards.

One Swarna Latha told The Hans India that she approached Union Bank Aadhaar Centre for changing address, date of birth and mobile number in her card but she was told to go to another bank for address change and date of birth correction. The bank agreed only to update mobile number and for the other changes she was asked to go to other banks.

Deeply disappointed at the response in the bank she left the bank and approached a private agency for which she paid extra commission to get her job done. She paid Rs 500 and her job was done hassle free. In the wake of the pandemic, many banks are not operating their Aadhaar centres thus landing the people in hot waters and leaving them to the mercy of the middlemen who are taking money and getting the job done.

There are about 48 lakh Aadhaar cards in the district out of a population of 53 lakh. Many of the beneficiaries just want to update their mobiles for which they are made to run from pillar to post.

There are 80 Aadhaar centres and 40 sub-centres being run by postal department but these are a pittance when compared to the long queues at the centres especially because more than 50 per cent of the centres are inoperative in the district. The common complaint of the Aadhaar card holders is the exploitation they are subjected to by the middlemen who wanted to become rich overnight.

The Aadhaar card holders are urging the Central government to open more centres in all the mandals proportionate to the local population and need. Joint Collector Nishanth Kumar told The Hans India that he had already written to the Central government impressing on the need for opening more Aadhaar centres.

Meanwhile, the people can lodge a complaint with him if the centres are collecting extra money and assured that stern action will be initiated against them.