Union Minuster Piyush Goyal. (File Photo) Union Minuster Piyush Goyal. (File Photo)

In a closed-door meeting with state power ministers at New Delhi on Wednesday, power minister Piyush Goyal suggested his state counterparts to link consumers’ electricity connections with their Aadhaar cards and bank accounts so that there is no room for bribery and bill collections become easier. “The (power) minister told us to make sure that electricity connections are linked with Aadhaar. He added that we should seed the bank account of that consumer with Aadhaar too, so that it becomes easier to collect bills,” said a senior government official of a southern state, who was present at the meeting, on the condition of anonymity.

With power being a state subject, the state governments will take the final decision on the matter. Centre only plays an advisory role in such matters. The ministers and officials of almost all states and Union territories — except Mizoram — were present at the quarterly conference of power, renewable energy and mines in New Delhi. The two-day conference will end on Thursday. One state power minister told The Indian Express: “He (Goyal) said the move will give a push to non-cash economy. He also said that there will be no chance of bribery and overcharging once the seeding is done.” Another state power minister also confirmed the development. Union power ministry’s spokesperson did not respond to emailed queries by The Indian Express.

According to Unique Identification Authority of India, Aadhaar seeding is a process by which unique identification numbers (UIDs) of residents are “accurately included in the service delivery database of service providers for enabling Aadhaar-based authentication during service delivery”. The proposed move is in line with Centre’s push for digitisation and Aadhaar seeding in several departments. As per the agenda of the conference, the state ministers would also dwell over concerns on cyber security and digital payments.

Currently, the Supreme Court is hearing a petition against the government’s decision to link Aadhaar card with PAN (permanent account number) card. The Centre on Tuesday defended in the apex court its decision to make Aadhaar mandatory for PAN and also for filing tax returns, citing that it was done to curb the use of fake PAN cards. Moreover, in March, the Centre instructed telecom operators to do Aadhaar-based re-verification of all existing subscribers of mobile services. “…All licencees shall re-verify all existing mobile subscribers (pre-paid and postpaid) through Aadhaar-based eKYC process…,” a notification issued by the telecom department stated.

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