RANCHI: Having successfully launched retail payment through Aadhaar payment bridge (APB) for the first time in the country, the state government is all set to continue with the enrolment process from its own coffers.

The department of information technology, which acts as nodal agency for implementation of the Unique Identity (

) project in the state, is contemplating to move a proposal for budgetary allocation required to meet the expenses.

IT department principal secretary

said that

(UIDAI) had made it clear that the financial assistance given to the registrars for enrolment would be available till March 31 or till achievement of target, whichever is earlier.

Responding to the letter issued by UIDAI headquarters on November 14, in which the chief secretaries of the states were asked to expedite the process of enrolment so that the target could be achieved within the deadline, registrars in Jharkhand worked according to the guidelines.

UIDAI, at the Union level, had target of enrolling 20 crore people or any number of people by March 31, whichever is earlier. Accordingly, Jharkhand was given a target of enrolling 80 lakh people comprising 20 lakh in urban areas and 60 lakh in rural areas. By January 7, registrar for urban area

, who is also the urban development department secretary, reported enrolment of 22,15,000 people (2.15 lakh more than target) and announced to put a hold on the process of further enrollment.

Under the rural development department, which was appointed registrar for the rural areas, 55 lakh enrolments have been completed and given the rate of 20,000 enrolments per day, the target is likely to be achieved in 25 days.

UIDAI director general R S Sharma said that the authority was mandated to enroll 10 crore people initially which was extended to 20 crore at

level by a decision of the Union cabinet. "Union cabinet has to take a final decision whether UIDAI will continue to enroll people or the responsibility will be carried out by the

of India under the National Population Register," he said.

Sharma added that two more states - Kerala and Karnataka - have decided to continue with the enrolment process on their own so that the process is not delayed. "We have been giving financial assistance of Rs 50 per enrolment to the respective registrars through the nodal department but once the given target is completed, UIDAI will not be in a position to reimburse the expenses unless the cabinet takes any decision," he said.

UIDAI sources said that the practical expenditure incurring on each enrollment is around Rs 27-28 and if the authority is mandated to continue with the enrolments further, expenditure made under this head by the state government or any agency could be reimbursed.