NEW DELHI: The Union home ministry plans to link its crime records with the Aadhar unique identity project, signaling a reversal in its hostile stance towards the Nandan Nilekani-led Unique Identity Authority of India.The home ministry's 2,000-crore Crime and Criminal Tracking System project, which aims to create a central database of all crime records in the country, will have a provision for linking up with UID or Aadhar numbers, an official associated with managing the project said."The big plan is to link crime records with UID," the official told ET. "This will make the database easier to handle and more accurate."The development indicates a u-turn in the P Chidambaram-headed ministry's approach to the massive project to provide unique photo identity cards to all Indian residents after collecting their fingerprints and iris scans.Just a few months back, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had to step in to resolve an open spat between the UIDAI and home ministry over the collection of biometric information of people, a job the ministry said was already being done by the census authorities under their National Population Registration programme.The UIDAI has issued Aadhar numbers to 20 crore Indians till now and is expected to cover another 40 crore people in the second phase. It is expected to cover the entire country by June 2013.The Crime and Criminal Tracking System was launched in 2009 as part of the e-governance project. The core framework of the project is ready and states are now setting up crime record bureaus."This project might easily be one of the first ones to use UID for a country-wide project. There is clarity on the use of the UID numbers for the purpose," the official said.Aadhar numbers, after they reach an optimal coverage point, could be used as a one-point access to information of crime records across the country with over 14,000 police stations spanning 6,000 district police headquarters, finger print bureaus and forensic science laboratories linking it to crime records through a completely online system.The development shows that the skepticism of government departments towards the UID project is wearing off. While some continue to doubt the timelines and penetration of Aadhar numbers and foresee numerous implementation glitches, many state and central departments are developing systems that can be linked with Aadhar.For example, the rural development ministry is planning to enlist UID numbers in the job cards for 12 crore beneficiaries under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA).Also, the income-tax department will collect UID numbers of people who apply for PAN cards.Punjab, which is developing a mother and child tracking system under a state-level health project, plans to link it with UIDAI."Nobody is unaware of the benefits that UID, if implemented properly, can do to government delivery system," an official in the Punjab state health department said.States such as Nagaland that are computerising their Public Distribution Systems plan to integrate them with UID numbers to check leakages.The home ministry's move to link UID with crime records, however, raises concerns over irresponsible surveillance by the government and data projection ability of the government and the UIDAI.The project official said crime-tracking system will be governed by the reasonable security practices and procedures of sensitive personal data rules 2011 as defined under the Information and Technology Act."There would be procedures through which data of a private individual can be accessed by security persons but it would be defined by law," the official said.