The head of the Unique Identity Authority of India has urged the public to write down the purpose and date when they submit photocopies of their Aaadhar cards to exchange currency notes to prevent misuse.
“Photocopies of the Aadhaar letter are being submitted by the general public to banks. We urge them to clearly indicate the purpose for which they are submitting the same along with the date and time. This actually is a good practice whenever they submit photocopies of documents,” said Ajay Bhushan Pandey, Chief Executive Officer of UIDAI.
“However, as Aadhaar is a digitally verifiable identity and can be authenticated anytime, anywhere, the chances of its misuse are limited,” he added.
FAKE ACCOUNTS
Identity documents are being sought from those who turn up at banks and post offices with old currency notes for exchange.
However, some worry that these identity documents may be used by rogue bank employees to open new accounts to allow those with black money to deposit and withdraw large amounts in the names of others.
The income tax department has also opened a special facility on their efiling portal to help you find out if anyone has misused your Aadhaar or other document to create a new bank account and deposit money in your name.
NEW HELPLINE
The UID Authority also came up with a new helpline for those who have any queries regarding their Aadhaar card.
The Aadhaar toll-free helpline 1947 will among other things, enable residents to locate an Aadhaar Enrolment Centre, know generation status of an Aadhaar number (after enrolment) and help retrieve Aadhaar details of any person who has lost his/her Aadhaar or hasn’t received it through post.
The free of cost helpline, which can be accessed by dialing 1947 — will be available at all time, but to talk to agents, calls must be made between 7 am and 11 pm (Monday to Saturday).
On Sundays, agents will answer calls from 8 am to 5 pm.
On an average the helpline number handles about 1.5 lakh calls per day.
“Our toll-free helpline 1947, which has been revamped to handle more incoming calls, brings Aadhaar closer to everyone. It can be accessed through mobile or landline and will be especially beneficial in these times when the Aadhaar number is being increasingly used in the banking sector to identify individuals.”
As Aadhaar is being used widely by people in the wake of the de-monetization exercise, UIDAI cautioned the public to clearly indicate purpose of providing photocopies of their Aadhaar letter to prevent misuse of the same.