Lack of adequate publicity for the second phase of Aadhaar card registration has left public in the dark about its timeline and registration centres.
The second phase began in the city in October and about 12 wards have already been covered. But majority of the people are still not aware of the detailed schedule and the locations chosen for registration. The reason for such a poor turnout has been attributed to the absence of awareness campaign of any kind, be it in print media or television. The Census Office is mainly responsible for generating awareness about the drive.
The schedule for Aadhaar registration in four wards to be conducted in December was released by the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Monday. The registration will begin from Tuesday and continue till January 2.
Wards 1 (Patia Industrial Estate, Sikhar Chandi Basti, Munda Sahi, Chandaka Industrial Area, Maruti Vihar, Chandrasekharpur, Saileshree Vihar Part and Future Bhubaneswar School Area), 11 (Nabard Colony, Chandrasekharpur, BDA Colony, Rail Vihar, Nalco Phase-1, Nilamadhaba Basti), 19 (RBI Colony and Iskcon area) and 20 (Jayadev Vihar Private Plot Area, NH-5, NH-6, Indradhanu Market area, Biju Patnaik College area) will be covered this month.
In the first phase of Aadhaar card registration, half of the households in the city were covered. But, one lakh households and about 4.25 lakh population of the city are yet to register for the card. BMC’s Additional Commissioner KP Pati and City Census Officer said as opposed to the first phase registration, the turnout in the second phase has been very poor. There may be a need for organising third phase registration as 100 per cent coverage has not been achieved yet.