Balasore: Many people in Balasore have objected to the system of charging different service fees by Jana Seva Kendras in the name of Aadhaar cards.
Even as the Aadhaar card has been made mandatory for people to draw benefits for different schemes, its registration has been in full swing in the district.
In some cases, people are allegedly made to cough up more money than the amount fixed by the government at many centres.
The target for Aadhaar registration has been set at 5,91,933 in 2016-17 while 4,20,387 people have already been enrolled for it by July 27.
The Aadhaar registration is being managed by OCAC, ITC and NCR and Wipro. Over 100 Jana Seva Kendras are functioning across the district particularly at the collectorate, office of the sub-collector, block and tehsil offices and even at some villages.
The Aadhaar centres witness large crowd on a daily basis. It is alleged that though the Aadhaar registration is free of charges as per the government guidelines, those running the Jana Seva Kendras has been charging people anywhere between Rs 50 to Rs 100 for each registration.
Locals alleged that the computer operators working at two centres in the collectorate openly demanded Rs 50 per registration. The operators explained that the firms were not paying them salaries nor providing them necessary computers, camera and other devices. They manage all expenses with the fees collected from registration.
Though the contractual companies receive funds for Aadhaar registration from the government, they do not pay remunerations to the staff managing registration. In such situation, the staff at the centres forces people to pay registration fees.
Though the administrative officials are apprised of the problem, no action is being taken against the staff. Action will lead to the closure of such centres, it was pointed out.
Locals said that if such illegality was not stopped, it would turn into a major scam in the coming days.
ADM and nodal officer Manmath Pani said: “For Aadhaar card rectification, Rs 25 is being charged from each beneficiary, but the government has no provision of fees for those doing Aadhaar registration.” PNN
