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UDUPI: As Udupi district has been included in the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme from October 1, there are many LPG buyers who fear they will not get the subsidy money and will end up paying Rs 996.50 per cylinder (instead of the subsidised rate of 418.50 per cylinder). Reason: Many have not got their Aadhaar cards yet. There are 2 lakh LPG connections in the district.
 
Though the grace period is on till December 31, will all the family heads against whose name LPG connection is registered get their Aadhaar card before the grace period?
 
Aadhaar enrolment centres in Udupi, Byndoor and Kundapur have temporarily stopped accepting new applications as per the order of the district administration citing ’long queues’. In Udupi Aadhaar enrolment centre, 4,000 people have been issued token till November 30. In Kundapur, token has been issued till October 31 and biometric of 50 persons on each day will be taken. In Byndoor too, token has been issued till October 31 and new applications will be received only from November 1 provided further intimation is passed from the superintendent of post offices, Udupi division, in this regard.
 
However, staff in these Aadhasr card centers said tokens were given to those who stood in the queue. There is no specific mechanism to issue tokens to head of the families on priority. ’’Though we told people that only those who needed Aadhaar card to link the Aadhaar numbers to bank account to avail LPG subsidy stand in the queue, others who came for enrolling for Aadhaar card otherwise too joined the queue,’’ a staff member said.
 
The total population of Udupi district is 12,08,835. Of them, 6,17,759 have enrolled for Aadhaar cards. And 8,63,561 people have enrolled for National Population Register (NPR). Though the district administration had said that all those who enrolled for NPR would get Aadhaar cards too, now the buzz is that those enrolled for NPR in year 2010 will not get Aadhaar cards. Only those enrolled for NPR in 2011 and 2012 will get their Aadhaar cards.
 
Damodar Aithal, convener, Consumer Forum, Udupi, said the government should not make Aadhaar cards mandatory for availing the LPG subsidy money until every family head is enrolled for Aadhaar card.