New Delhi, July 11 (IANS) Delhi Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena’s Secretariat on Friday directed the city government to phase out third-party vendors engaged for preparing Aadhaar cards and restrict the tasks of enrolment and update to outlets manned by the Registrar’s own staff.

In a letter addressed to Chief Secretary Dharmendra, the LG’s secretariat called for strict enforcement of regulations for issuing Aadhaar cards in Delhi, in the wake of reports of a large number of illegal immigrants procuring the 12-digit residence and identity proof.

Besides being a threat to national security, the illegally-procured Aadhaar cards also adversely impact local employment and enable illegal immigrants to avail benefits under the welfare schemes of the government, said the advisory, without using the words Bangladeshis or Rohingyas for illegal immigrants.

The letter comes at a time when the Delhi Police has launched an intensive drive to deport Bangladeshis and Rohingyas living illegally in the city. In several cases, the police have detained illegal immigrants who admitted to wrongfully procuring Aadhaar cards in India to avail government welfare schemes.

Delhi’s Food and Supplies Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa told IANS earlier this week that the BJP government is pushing for regular action against illegal migrants, including Rohingyas and Bangladeshis.

“They will not be allowed to settle in Delhi under any circumstances. Unlike the previous AAP government that allegedly provided them leeway, we are committed to acting against them. Our top priority is ensuring Delhi’s safety, no matter the criticism we face,” he said.

In its letter to the Chief Secretary, the LG Secretariat also asked for strict enforcement of the rules by Registrars in issuing Aadhaar cards and directed them to switch to in-house model, sans third party vendors, within two months.

The Chief Secretary has also been asked to provide a comprehensive list of all Aadhaar enrolment centres in Delhi by July 15 and ramp up supervision of field-level implementation monitoring and verification procedures by Aadhaar issuing authorities under the Aadhaar (Enrolment and Update) Regulations 2016.

These regulations were issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), detailing the procedures, software, hardware, and security measures to be followed by Registrars and enrolling agencies.

The LG’s office has also mandated a monthly audit of all Aadhaar centres under the Divisional Commissioner to ensure that unauthorised persons, with illegal or wrongfully-procured Aadhaar cards, do not avail benefits of the Delhi government’s welfare schemes.

The LG’s Secretariat told the Chief Secretary that they have come across several instances of security breach by illegal migrants who have managed to secure Aadhaar cards using fake documents.

–IANS

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