government

court

Aadhaar cards

Pune Municipal Corporation

Aadhaar

PMC

While theand thehas already made it clear thatare not compulsory for official processes, the(PMC) does not seem to think so. Relatives are being asked to producecards of the deceased to obtain cremation passes. While citizens have protested against this,authorities have claimed that this is happening despite instructions from officials.PMC has been issuing cremation passes for some time now to ensure that the dead body being cremated is properly identified. According to the process for getting the passes, the applicants have to obtain a doctor’s certificate and then submit a list of documents to the PMC centres following which the pass is issued for cremation. While the documents listed include submissions that can establish the identity of the deceased, PMC workers at different centres are accepting Aadhaar cards only.Vivek Velankar, convernor, Sajag Nagarik Manch, said, “I had gone to collect the pass for one of my relatives at Sutar Hospital in Kothrud. The person present there told me to submit the Aadhaar card of the deceased. When I told them that it was not available, he asked me to prepare an affidavit and submit it along with a note that the Aadhaar card is not available. I tried explaining that this is not compulsory and that the central government and the courts have both have announced this. But they kept insisting on the card.”Explaining the reason for the compulsion, Chandrashekhar Kondhalkar, the person issuing passes at Vaikunth crematorium said, “After the Aadhaar card came into circulation, the forms we drew up for this process mandates that the Aadhaar card numbers be given. This was done to ensure that the record of the persons get updated on their UID record. Since the form needs to be filled up, we ask them to submit the Aadhaar card.”PMC officials, however, stated that they have already instructed the health department workers not to ask for Aadhaar cards. Kalpana Baliwant, in-charge of the birth and death records department of the corporation, said, “When the Aadhaar card was introduced, there were clear instructions to ensure that it is submitted as per the mandate. However, after the court ruling we had asked the people from our department to stop demanding it. What is needed is an ID proof of the deceased. We even issued a circular two months ago. If this is still happening, I will again issue instructions to officials and ensure that this stops.”