MYSURU: At a time when the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is all set to provide doorstep services to citizens, an incident reported in rural Mysuru has exposed how the innocent are extorted by middlemen in the name of getting their Aadhaar card updated.
A private party claiming to be running a customer service point (CSP) to provide online facilities to citizens allegedly demanded Rs 3,000 from a farmer for getting his son's Aadhaar card updated and made him cough up Rs 2,500 to get him an updated Aadhaar card. The incident was reported from Periyapatna taluk in Mysuru.
Mahesh, who runs the CSP, allegedly demanded Rs 3,000 from Muniswamy, a farmer from Saathegala village. Muniswamy filmed the incident of him approaching the service point, paying the money and getting the Aadhaar card updated for Rs 2,500 and it has gone viral on social media.
According to Muniswamy, he approached the service point as he wanted his son's Aadhaar card updated immediately to avail bus pass. "I was told that I had to link my mobile number to the Aadhaar card to get it updated and went to a bank, where I was told to visit this shop. When I went there they called their sources and said that they could get it updated but had to pay Rs 3,000 as they had to bribe a few senior officials to get it done. As I was in a hurry, I could arrange only Rs 2,500 and paid them after which I got the card updated and a new card was issued to me," he said.
In the video shot by Muniswamy, Mahesh, who runs the CSP, has claimed that he had to bribe officials to get the work done, as it was not possible to get it updated at the centre. A resident alleged that this is not the first time that Mahesh was caught red-handed.
Earlier, he was running a common service centre (CSC) in the taluk and was charging money more than the government prescribed rates, following which his licence for the centre was cancelled. "He later opened this centre in his wife's name. Even several officials seem to be hand-in-glove with such people which needs to be probed," said Nagaraj, a resident of Piriyapatna.
Meanwhile, Mahesh told The New Indian Express that there are attempts to fix him. "I took the money from him as travel expenses to get the card updated by visiting the office in Bengaluru. His son’s card was deactivated and it was necessary to visit the Bengaluru office to get it corrected. But I am wrongfully framed. I don't have any licence or authority to update Aadhaar and just run an Internet centre," he said.
When the issue was brought to the notice of DC Dr Bagadi Gautham, he said he had been informed about this and had directed the officials to take action immediately.