Raghottam Koppar By

Express News Service

GADAG: Queues in Aadhaar centres are decreasing across the state. But in Mundargi taluk it seems unending. Many of the card seekers at the only Aadhaar centre in the taluk are daily wage workers and it is said that because of their rough hands, their fingers prints are not getting scanned properly, thus delaying the process. Each day, only 20 cards are processed. This is leading to long queues leading to card seekers demanding that the authorities open more centres to reduce the rush.

Earlier, there were three Aadhaar centres in the taluk — Tahsildar office, State Bank of India and Karnataka Vikas Grameen Bank. Now, only the KVG Bank centre is providing the service. Hence, hundreds of villagers come and stand in the queue from as early as 4 am to get their Aadhaar card.

“The delay is mainly because of fingerprints. Most of the villagers, who work on daily wages, have hard palms and the sensor equipment is not recognising the fingerprints. People have to press their hands together till the moisture comes and then again they have to put them on the sensor machine. This has been a big hindrance. This takes much time and another issue is the problem with the server, an official said.

Mohammad Ronad from Mundargi said, “I have come early in the morning, but here fingerprints and server problem have halted the process of issuing Aadhaar cards. It is a herculean task for nearby villagers as they have to spend 4-6 days to get an Aadhaar card leaving behind their work”.Bhemmavva Kadakola, a resident of Byalawadagi village, said, “We have been coming here for the last four days and we are yet to get the process done. As the Aadhaar card has been made mandatory for many schemes we have to get it done at the earliest,” she said.

A staff from KVG Bank said, “It is difficult to issue more Aadhaar cards as we get stuck with issues like fingerprint and server glitches. People have to wait in long queues and we are helpless. Still, we are trying to speed up the process, but we have not crossed issuing 22 Aadhaar cards a day till now. If the Tahsildar office and SBI Aadhaar centres are reopened, the rush will come down here.” An official from the Tahsildar office said, “We have brought the issue to the notice of the district administration and we will reopen some more centres soon.”