Individuals seeking Aadhaar cards in Assam will face a more stringent verification process from October 1. Announcing this on Saturday, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the move comes in view of a troubling trend in certain districts, where the number of Aadhaar cardholders are more than the population.
Assam’s New Aadhaar Rule Makes Verification Stricter
“For instance, data shows that in Barpeta, 103.74% of the population, in Dhubri 103.48%, in Morigaon 101.76%, and in Nagaon about 100.86% have obtained Aadhaar cards. This raises concerns, as it suggests that suspected foreign nationals may have managed to procure the cards,” the Chief Minister said.
To curb this alleged illegal procurement, the state government has decided to tighten the verification process before issuing Aadhaar cards.
“From October 1, anyone applying for an Aadhaar card will need to provide their National Register of Citizens (NRC) application number along with their application. This directive will apply across all districts except the tea garden areas,” Himanta Biswa Sarma said.
The Chief Minister also mentioned that the government will issue a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the new verification process within the next 10 days.
