PALAKKAD: The ubiquitous neighbourhood post office will soon deliver the UID cards (Unique Identification Number) to all residents of the state.
The Palakkad unit of the Indian Telephone Industries is the sole manufacturer of the card for five states, including Kerala, and it is hoped that the delivery of the first batch of UIDs will be made within three months.
The UIDs, which contain the resident's demographic and biometric information, will enable the public to access benefits of all govt schemes and programmes.
"The three public sector units Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and the Indian Telephone Industries (ITI) have been entrusted with the task of printing 57 crore UIDs in the country.
"A sum of Rs 3,000 crore has been set aside for the purpose. Among other units of ITI, only the Palakkad unit has set up a facility for printing the cards at the cost of Rs 10 crore.
"Since private agencies cannot be involved due to security reasons, we are waiting for the approval of the National Informatics Centre (NIC) for the software to be installed so that production could start," a top source in ITI, Kanjikode, said.
The Palakkad unit is printing the cards for Kerala, Maharashtra, Kolkata, Gujarat and Goa.
Initially, it is expected to print 10 crore UIDs and another 10 crore cards late, which meant an order of around Rs 1,000 crore.
The whole process in carried out under the supervision of the Home Ministry.
"The UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India) has signed an agreement with the Dept of Posts for registration, distribution and delivery of 'Aadhar', a 12digit unique number linked to the resident's demographic and biometric information. Like in the case of passport, the post office will be the sole agency to deliver UIDs.
"The printing of the folders will be done at Kolkata and it will be delivered by Speed Post throughout the country.
"With technology upgradation at the post offices, the public will also be able to track and confirm its receipt," Chief Post Master General (Kerala) Shobha Koshy said.
"The biometric information of the citizens in Kerala has been collected only to the extent of 20 percent. This information was collected by the personnel of the ITI in association with the Census Dept," the source added.