PUNE: Following orders from the state government, the

(PMC) has suspended the unique identification (UID) registration drive in the city, till it receives further orders.

UID cell chief and PMC deputy commissioner Praveen Ashtikar said that the PMC had received orders to suspend the drive, but the state government has given no clarification or reasons for the suspension of the drive, after over 12 lakh citizens have registered for the Aadhaar card. The government will issue further orders regarding to the drive in April.

The state government had appointed four agencies for UID registration in Pune. Since January 2011, the drive received enthusiastic response from citizens. While 400 registration machines were needed, only 153 were available. These machines were divided in the 14 ward offices and citizens had crowded ward offices for registration. Under the UID scheme, a 12-digit number would be allotted to each individual after the work of collecting information was completed. As per the PMC's plan, the registration process in the city was expected to be completed by December 2012.

A state government officer, requesting anonymity, said that the debate around the UID project - about its relevance, technology, security and privacy, duplication of effort, costs, etc - has forced the Centre and state to have second thoughts on the project.

Before its implementation, the UID project had gone through interministerial scrutiny and was cleared by the Union Cabinet. It was also supported by state governments. UID is the only project in the world that leverages multimodal biometrics by combining fingerprints and irises, and has an accuracy level of 99.9%.