Delhi govt and UIDAI to ink pact

Delhi government will soon sign a pact with Unique Identification Authority of India for smooth implementation of its ambitious project to issue identification numbers to the city's residents, who will perhaps be among the first to get the identity proof.

Delhi Cabinet, presided over by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, while approving an Memorandum of Understanding to be signed with the UIDAI, also decided constitute two committees to oversee implementation of the project in Delhi.

"We have decided to sign an MoU with UIAI to provide all possible cooperation to them and to make the project a great success in Delhi," Dikshit said.

In September last year, after a meeting with Dikshit chairman of UIDAI Nandan Nilekani had said that residents of Delhi may get their identification numbers within three years.

The authority has already signed similar pact with some states and plans to enter into such agreements with other states for its nation-wide project.

Dikshit said, "The project of this magnitude and complexity cannot be implemented without active support of the state governments and hence the city government has decided to sign an MoU with the authority."

As per the MoU, the UIDAI will develop standards for recording bio-metric data of residents and prescribe standards and criteria for verification of residents to be eligible for the UID and the city government will put in place an institutional mechanism and provide human resources for data collection.

The government will also provide required financial and other resources to UIDAI.

The revenue department has been declared as the nodal department for the project and divisional commissioners have been designated as the nodal officers.

"The Cabinet has approved a draft MoU which will be signed soon by the chief secretary on behalf of the city government," the chief minister said.

Noting that the unique identification number to be issued by the UIDAI would also help the city government to more effectively deliver services to the people, she said it will help identification of actual beneficiaries.

The collaboration with UIDAI will help accurate verification and identification of beneficiaries for various government schemes, officials said.

Stressing on the need for proper monitoring of entire exercise, Dikshit said the Cabinet has also decided to constitute an implementation committee with the chief secretary as its chairman.

The Cabinet has also decided to constitute a State Level Council to be headed by the chief minister to monitor implementation of the entire project.

Asked whether the Government will offer its database of citizens prepared for Mission Convergence programme to UIDAI, Dikshit said she will not have any problem sharing it.

Officials said the database of 900,000 households and 42 lakh (4.2 million) people is very comprehensive as it was prepared based on biometric information of the residents.