Tamil Nadu: Nearly 1,200 Aadhaar cards found dumped on riverbank
Nearly 1,200 Aadhaar cards were found dumped on the banks of the Mulliyaru River near Thiruthuraipoondi in Tamil Nadu's Thiruvarur district. The cards, which were stuffed inside gunny bags, were found by some children playing there. The Tahsildar of Thiruvarur, Rajan Babu, said there would have been around 2,000 Aadhaar cards but some villagers who could find their cards took them away. Here's more.
What should have been delivered by post was dumped: Rajan
"These (Aadhaar cards) are from the years 2013, 2014, and 2015, at a time when the cards were given to an agency and would then get delivered to people by post," Rajan said. "What should have been delivered by post was dumped," he said. Until 2015, people were required to have a physical copy of their Aadhaar card as it was not available online.
Not clear whether cards were dumped before or after delivery
Tahsildar Rajan also said that it was not immediately clear if it was the post office that didn't deliver these Aadhaar cards or the concerned agency itself. Also, there is no clarity on whether these cards were dumped on the riverbank before their delivery or after. A police complaint in this matter has been filed by the village administration.
Aadhaar cards dumped instead of being delivered
Rajan said that the recovered Aadhaar cards belong to people from villages like Sekal, Kattimedu, and Aathirangam. He said that these people have been using their Enrollment ID to avail the benefits of government schemes as they didn't receive their Aadhaar cards. He said their Aadhaar cards were issued over two years ago but were dumped instead of getting delivered.
Post office official denies their staff's involvement
Meanwhile, an official from Trichy head post office said, "If the cards were inside pasted covers with the postal seal we could have come to the conclusion that our staff were involved." "However, in this case, all the cards were found without any cover. So, it is the revenue authorities who have to explain," he said. Post office officials have initiated a departmental inquiry.
