Mangaluru : Dakshina Kannada district, which stands ninth as far as Aadhaar enrollment is concerned, will have 21 permanent Aadhaar enrolment centres to speed up the process.

Addressing a workshop on Aadhaar enrolment for district-level government officials here on Thursday, Sandeep Patil, consultant, e-governance wing of the State government, said Dakshina Kannada has achieved 77 per cent enrolment whereas Tumakuru tops the list with 94.73 per cent enrolment.

The workshop was aimed at educating officials involved in the enrolment and clarifying their doubts.

The permanent enrolment centres would be located at Atalji Jana Snehi Kendras in hobli headquarters even as the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is planning to set up such centres in municipalities of cities and towns in Phase-2 of the project, he said. The permanent centres would be a one-stop solution for fresh enrolment, checking Aadhaar status, getting e-Aadhaar, Aadhaar seeding and authentication service. The Deputy Commissioner would be provided with five enrolment kits, which could be used to conduct special enrolment camps, he added.

Mr. Patil said Aadhaar is unique because one person cannot get more than one ID as it is based on biometric details of the member. The UIDAI would be having every details of the process, right from the details of the person operating the system at the enrolment centre, details of the system being used, the enrollment agency and the like.

Referring to reports that Lord Hanuman too got an Aadhaar number, Mr. Patil said it was a mischief played by the operator concerned, who had placed the picture of Hanuman and matched it with the biometric details of a living person. The person who gave his biometric details to match Hanuman’s identity, would have to remain as Hanuman for his entire life as it is impossible to issue another ID to that person because of the biometric details, he said.

Deputy Commissioner A.B. Ibrahim, Superintendent of Police D.S. Sharanappa, Zilla Panchayat CEO Thulasi Maddineni, Mangalore City Corporation Commissioner Hepsiba Rani Korlaputi, Additional DC Sadashiva Prabhu and others were present.