Bhubaneswar: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Friday clarified reports regarding the deactivation of Aadhaar numbers of some residents of Odisha, stating that the exercise is part of a nationwide database clean-up to prevent misuse of Aadhaar credentials.
According to UIDAI, over 2 crore Aadhaar numbers of deceased individuals have been deactivated across the country to ensure the accuracy of the Aadhaar database and to curbidentity fraud and unauthorised access to welfare benefits.
The clarification comes in the wake of recent newspaper reports and social media posts claiming that Aadhaar numbers of some living residents in Odisha were deactivated. UIDAI explained that it receives information on deceased persons from multiple authorised repositories.
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Based on this data, Aadhaar numbers are deactivated as a preventive measure. However, in certain cases, inconsistencies in the database or inaccurate information shared by source agencies may have led to the inadvertent deactivation of Aadhaar numbers of living individuals.
The authority assured that a robust grievance redressal mechanism is in place.
