Dedicated Aadhaar Sewa Kendra will be opened in Dharwad, assures Union Minister

Union Minister for Railways, Communications and Electronics, and Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw, has said that a dedicated Aadhaar Seva Kendra (ASK) will be opened in Dharwad.

The Union Minister’s response comes in the wake of public protest, which was followed by a letter to him by Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and New and Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi.

In the letter dated December 30, Mr. Joshi had highlighted the significant gap in the Aadhaar service infrastructure in his Parliamentary constituency, citing inputs from the Deputy Commissioner of Dharwad.

He had pointed out that earlier, there were two Aadhaar Seva Kendras with 24 ECMP (Enrollment Client Multi-Platform) kits in his constituency, and now it had been reduced to a single ASK in Hubballi with only four ECMP kits, which meant a net reduction of 20 ECMP kits, which had severely impacted the district’s delivery capacity.

The Minister had drawn attention to the hardships being faced by the public, stating that students, senior citizens and residents from rural areas were compelled to travel long distances to access Aadhaar services.

He had mentioned in his letter that out of the 79 functional centres in the region, 36 were UCL/CELC centres, which were restricted to minor updates and child enrolment. Full spectrum services, including mandatory biometric updates (MBU) for residents aged between 5-15 years and above, could only be performed through ECMP kits, he had pointed out. Responding to his letter, the Union Minister has assured opening a separate ASK for Dharwad.