Dharwad: The Aadhaar service centre located opposite KC Park post office in Dharwad has been shifted to Hubballi, causing severe hardship for Dharwad residents.It is said that the Aadhaar service centre has been relocated after the contract of the service organisation operating this centre expired. However, a board has been put up in front of the centre stating that the Aadhaar service centre, which closed its doors on Nov 28, has been shifted to Keshwapur, Hubballi. This has forced the people from Dharwad and surrounding areas to travel all the way to Hubballi to get Aadhaar services.Customer-friendly centre: The Dharwad centre was very convenient for the people of Dharwad for new Aadhaar card registration and renewal. More than 100 people used to visit the centre every day and find solutions to their Aadhaar-related problems. It was customer-friendly and provided excellent service at low cost, including seating space, token system, service staff, etc. “Now that it is closed, it is a great inconvenience for the people, especially rural residents,” said Basavaraj Hiremath of Yadwad village.The Aadhaar related services are available at some other places including banks, post offices, HD One centres. In addition, one can make corrections in their Aadhaar Card online. However, there is no dedicated staff for Aadhaar service itself. Due to this, there is a delay in availing services like changes in name, address, mobile, email, photo, fingerprint, child biometric update and iris update in Aadhaar. The Aadhaar Seva Kendra was functioning from 9.30am to 5.30pm, seven days a week (Monday to Sunday). However, customers complained that this was not possible for other service centres, including the post office.Restart quickly: The closure of the Aadhaar Seva Kendra in Dharwad for the past one month has caused great distress. “We were able to get corrections made in Aadhaar even on Sundays. Now the people of Dharwad are in serious trouble. The district administration should immediately resolve the technical problem in the Aadhaar Seva Kendra and restart it immediately,” Hiremath demanded.According to a UIDAI official, these Aadhaar service centres have been functioning for the last six years and the tender for the service providers ended on Nov 30. These centres are likely to start again only after receiving a new tender. He said that this process will be delayed. Dharwad citizens are expressing anger at the administration, saying that tenders should have been called before the tender for the service providers ended and the Aadhaar centres should not have been closed.
