City to get 146 unique identification centres

After the census enumerators, it’s the turn of civic staff bearing forms to come knocking on your door to ensure you get your UID number. According to a BMC report, 44,773 people have already enrolled themselves at 74 centres in the city.

After the census enumerators, it’s the turn of civic staff bearing forms to come knocking on your door to ensure you get your Unique Identification (UID) number. According to a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) report, 44,773 people have already enrolled themselves at 74 centres in the city.

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The BMC is in the process of establishing 146 centres, each catering to approximately one lakh people. “We had set a deadline of February 20, but there were several practical hurdles that slowed us down. But, all centres will be ready by the end of the month,” said Mahesh Narvekar, chief officer, disaster management cell.

In Mumbai, four agencies have been given the task of getting people enrolled. With the gradual activation of the centres, the agency staff will go door-to-door and distribute enrolment forms. Residents will be asked to submit these forms at the centres and get their fingerprints and unique iris images recorded. A mugshot will also be taken. The enrolment in Maharashtra will be over by March 2012.

The active centres are located in areas like Fort, Kandivli, Malad, Andheri, Antop Hill, Byculla and so on. Each of these centres will have five biometric machines and one operator for each of them. Although not all centres will have five machines to begin with, the civic body will eventually provide complete facilities at these centres too. There will also be an introducer at every centre to make the process easier for citizens.

“It will take around 10 days for verification after which the card will be sent via post. There are 10%-15% chances that people may not get their cards if there is any issue with the verification of documents,” Narvekar added.

The first citizen of Mumbai to get the UID card was Mayor Shraddha Jhadav, who received it from chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on January 26. Four agencies –Tera Software, Wipro, Karvi and Wep – have been appointed to carry out the work.