Government chooses Keltron; ignores Akshaya

Arjun Raghunath
The New Indian Express
01 Mar 2011

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a jolt to the Akshaya entrepreneurs, the State Government has decided to handover the enrolment to the Unique Identification (UID) Project in Thiruvananthapuram district to Keltron.

The Government had earlier announced that Akshaya would be entrusted with the task of enrolling general public and Keltron would be enrolling government officials to the UID, popularly known as Aadhaar.

However, according to an order issued by the State Government the other day, UID enrolment is being launched in Thiruvananthapuram and Alappuzha districts on a pilot basis and the enrolment in Thiruvananthapuram will be done by Keltron and that in Alappuzha by Akshaya.

The Akshya entrepreneurs across the state are up in arms against the government decision.

"We have already taken up the matter with the Chief Minister and other top officials," said T S Chandran, president of All Kerala Akshaya Entrepreneurs Association.

The enrolment agency will get Rs 38 as enrolment charges for enrolling each person to the UID. It was when the Akshaya entrepreneurs were expecting to earn considerable revenue from the UID project, they received the jolt.

Many Akshaya entrepreneurs in the district had even undergone training by the UID Authority in enrolling individuals. Steps for procuring necessary hardware like biometric readers were also progressing.

It is alleged that the enrolment in Thiruvananthapuram was given to Keltron owing to the vested interests of ceratin officials. Earlier, there were allegations that Keltron was playing the role of middleman in various government projects and thereby gaining undue profit.

Moreover, it is also pointed out that Akshya centres are spread across the district and hence it will be able to reach out to the masses without much effort, whereas Keltron do not have such a strong network.

However, Keltron managing director Prasanna Kumar said that Keltron would be able to carry out the enrolment without much difficulties.

"Keltron have been successfully carrying out the election identity card project. Hence, we will be able to do the UID enrolment directly. We have already initiated steps in this regard and the enrolment will begin soon," he said.

Akshaya centres in Alappuzha have already begun the enrolment and are getting a good response from the people, T S Chandran said.

The enrolment to the UID was formally inaugurated by Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan the other day.

The Unique Identification Project has been caught up in controversies in Kerala while many other states had already gone far ahead in enrolling citizens.