Hyderabad: An alleged security breach has reportedly led to the shutdown of 17 Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) centres in the state.
While some employees from the centres said there was a “hacking problem’, UIDAI deputy director-general, Hyderabad, Rami Reddy said the centres were being shut down was because the Aadhaar enrollment process had almost come to an end.
“We have shut down all services related to Aadhaar corrections for the past week. There was a hacking problem and since personal details given by citizens may be compromised, we were asked to stop work,” said Mr Nagamally Vishwanath, who handles Aadhaar corrections at the Lingampally branch.
Citizens who are in a hurry to link PAN and Aadhaar cards complained about the inconvenience due to the rush at the centres owing to some of them being closed by the UIDAI.
“There is a mismatch of my initials in the Aadhaar and PAN cards. I cannot get the correction online as my mobile number is not linked to my Aadhaar. With the UIDAI centre closest to me closed, it creates an inconvenience,” said Ms Geetha Shashi.
The UIDAI centre at SR Nagar was also closed for a week. “I am not aware of the exact matter. Owing to security reasons, our centre was down eight to ten working days ago, and no Aadhaar corrections are going on. It will take a month before we resume our services,” aid one Parvin at the SR Nagar UIDAI Centre.
Mr Reddy said, “These centres have been shut down as the Aadhaar enrollment process has almost come to an end and the number of corrections are fewer. It has been decided to dissociate centres that come under the citizen service centre scheme and concentrate on permanent enrollment centres.”
UIDAI chairperson J. Satyanarayana, said, “I was not aware of any security breach in the Hyderabad region. Our security personnel will be notified to look into it immediately. It must have been done locally by some team.”
