Thiruvananthapuram: The Akshaya centre authorities have raised reservations over a move of the Centre to introduce Aadhaar enrollment facility at all Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) centres / Anganwadis.
According to sources, the Centre has already allotted Rs. 11 crore for setting up the Aadhaar enrollment facilities at the ICDS centres in the state as well as to train the employees in enrollment.
It is mainly targeted at enrolling children up to the age of five. The social justice department that manages Anganawadis were learnt to have initiated steps for procuring gadgets like computers for the 250 off ICDS centres in the state.
The Akshaya authorities have raised reservation over the move as it may affect the income they have been earning from Aadhaar enrollment services.
"Already many Akshaya centres were only making minimum revenue from the Aadhaar enrollment and many are struggling to meet the establishment costs as well as repair cost of gadgets. Hence the move to initiate Aadhaar enrollment through the Anganwadis would be a blow to us," said an Alappuzha-based Akshaya entrepreneur Mr. T.S. Chandran.
Social justice department special secretary Mr. Biju Prabhakar said that apart from the convenience for enrolling children, introducing Aadhaar enrollment facility at ICDS centres would also help the ICDS centres get additional infrastructure like computers.
"At present only a few ICDS centres have computer or internet facilities. Once the facilities for Aadhaar enrollment are installed with the funds offered by the Centre, it would equip the ICDS centres with facilities like computers and internet. This could be of much use for the effective implementation of various other government schemes for children," said Mr. Prabhakar.
