Chennai: Enrollment centres entrusted with the job of enrolling residents for Aadhaar and collecting biometric information are charging people as high as Rs 200 for enrolment and Rs100 for updating details.
Visits made by Deccan Chronicle to several permanent enrolment agencies in Chennai listed on the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) website found that a number of agencies were fleecing people on the claims that they were private agencies.
Ahead of the June 30 deadline by the central government for making Aadhaar mandatory availing benefits under social schemes, people are thronging these centres in huge numbers.
When a city resident, A Meenakshi, planned to visit an enrollment centre in Ashok Nagar for updating her name, she found that though the contact number of the person was the same, the centre was run at a different address on Kalaivanar Street in KK Nagar. Even for children up to the age 15 years, Rs 50 was charged for Aadhaar update.
“I was charged Rs 100 for updating my phone number,” said Meenakshi, though the amount as per the UIDAI website is Rs 25. When DC visited the person in charge, S Hemavathi, she said, “We are running a private agency. And we also ensure that you get your Aadhaar card delivered to you. You can visit the government run agency and stand through long queues for days to enroll or get an update done.”
Another permanent enrollment center in Vadapalani was also found to charge Rs100 for updating details. City residents feel that lack of efficiency by government is the reasons such agencies charge so much.
“My family had enrolled for Aadhaar at a centre months back and a number of details were wrongly entered. We are not even able to download the Aadhar copy. I will have to visit the enrolment agency again, I believe. If the government-run agencies do such a lackadaisical job, such agencies will try to take advantage of the situation and charge people for services,” said K. Vijayalakshmi. The spokesperson of UIDAI was not available for a comment on the same.
