TNN | Jun 17, 2016, 12.24 AM IST
Panaji: In a bid to attain 100% Aadhaar coverage in the next three months, the government will assign Aadhaar numbers to citizens who haven't yet registered, particularly children in the age groups of 0-5 and 5-18 years. So far, 14.28 lakh Aadhaar cards have been issued in the state.
The matter was discussed threadbare during a meeting of the State Planning Board (SPB) that was chaired by chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar, on Wednesday. The government has already roped in Goa Electronic Limited (GEL) to issue Aadhaar numbers to citizens who haven't yet registered themselves.
Deputy chairperson of the SPB Dattaprasad Kholkar, told TOI that Wednesday's meeting was attended by senior officials of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) from Mumbai, who discussed problem areas in meeting the target of 100% Aadhaar coverage.
As the task of issuing Aadhaar cards was outsourced earlier, children in the 0-5 age group weren't extensively registered. Only 23.55% of children in the 0-5 age group and 78% in the 5-18 age group have Aadhaar cards.
In a bid to expedite the process now, Kholkar said maternity homes and anganwadis will be linked to the programme. He added that there will be a wide-scale awareness programme aimed at covering the entire population of Goa under Aadhaar, thereby setting a precedent in the country.
The UIDAI looks to issue Aadhaar cards to almost every Indian by March 2017.