Bengaluru-headquartered PSU bank Canara Bank said it is opening 1040 Aadhaar service centres all over India. In Bengaluru, bank CEO Rakesh Sharma will open the first centre at the Jayanagar shopping complex branch on Sep 25, Monday. The entire city will have 18 Aadhaar service centres, and all of them will be functional from October 1.
Banks ready with infrastructure for Aadhaar Service Centres
The centres will work inside the branches, and will provide Aadhaar enrollment and update to the general public. “We will provide the infrastructure and the centres will be run by authorised agencies,” bank General Manager MM Chiniwar said. “We are ready with the infrastructure. The Aadhaar agencies have to set up theirs,” he added.
There is a scramble for Aadhaar services in India. In Bengaluru, the government has closed down many centres following complaints of malpractice, and the slow pace of addition of new centres has led to long queues at the fewer centres that are operational.
As per circular issued by UIDAI, Banks have been asked to set up Aadhaar enrollment and update centres by Sep 30. The banks are required to have one centre for every 10 branches they operate.
Penalty of Rs 20,000 per month
UIDAI will impose a penalty of Rs 20,000 per month for every single centre not opened by the bank before the deadline. The UIDAI had earlier asked the banks to set up Aadhaar enrolment centres by August 30. The banks, however, represented that they would require more time as they were in the process of sourcing biometric devices, and identifying authorised agencies, and got the deadline extended to Sep 30.
The Centre is trying to step up Aadhaar service centres as every account holder is required to submit the Aadhaar number to banks by December 31. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) too has extended the last date for linking Aadhaar with PAN to December 31.
A senior banking sector official said the banks are making preparations to comply with the UIDAI directive.
