The Hindu                           14.02.2013

Resident ID cards to arrive by year-end

Biometric camps on in 14 locations; collection of details to be completed by June.

Residents of the city will get their resident identity cards (RIC) by the end of this year or early next year.

The
Directorate of Census Operations, Tamil Nadu, which started enrolling
people through biometric camps, will complete collecting biometric and
demographic data of the residents in Thousand Lights, Purasawalkam,
Egmore and Nungambakkam by the end of this month. The collection of
biometric data for all areas in the city will be completed by June.

The
project to prepare biometric data, including finger prints, iris and
photograph, of the residents under the National Population Register was
started in December last year along with Chennai Corporation. Officials
of the directorate of census operations said that the biometric camps
would help in collecting data of residents for issuing resident identity
card, which is a smart card with a micro-processor chip containing
information on other proof of identity documents.

Of
the total 41.53 lakh people who will be covered, nearly 51,000
residents’ details have been collated so far. At present, the biometric
camps to issue resident identity cards with unique identification number
are being conducted in 14 different locations.

All
city residents aged above five are being covered in the biometric data
collection camps. Even those who have obtained Aadhar numbers from the
postal department and banks have to provide details under the NPR to get
their cards.

Krishna Rao, Joint Director,
Directorate of Census Operations, said that “We are training enumerators
to conduct camps in zone 5 (Royapuram) and zone 6 (Thiru.Vi.Ka.Nagar).
The camps will start by next week. We want to complete the process by
June to enable issuing of the smart card.”

Enumerators
would visit the residents of every ward and provide them with a Know
your Residents plus form with information on the family members and date
and venue of the camps. “Residents need not carry any documents other
than the form as information on ration card, driving license and
passport number would have been already collected,” an official said.

Mr.
Rao said that residents could make corrections on the data being
registered in both English and Tamil during the camps to avoid mistakes
in the RIC.

Once this exercise is completed,
residents would get a card with their unique identification number
called ‘Aadhaar’ by post. After verification of data, the list would be
displayed at designated centres to enable residents to check errors. The
Bangalore-based BHEL would provide the RIC with micro-chip containing
integrated data from all other identity cards.

The
directorate has completed data collection process in five districts,
including Ariyalur and Karur. While 25 per cent of people have been
covered in Kancheepuram, 7 per cent of the people have undergone
biometric process in Tiruvallur district.

Officials
said that the RIC will serve as proof of identity anywhere in the
country and the unique number envisages the elimination of fake
identities.

The government plans to make it a
multi-purpose card which can be used as proof to access the state
government’s welfare schemes.