Summary:
Despite these figures, several hundreds line up outside Aadhaar centres every day to get themselves registered, lest they be denied essential services. Outside an Aadhaar centre at a private bank in Defence Colony, a line starts forming by 6 am. Standing outside the Pragati Maidan centre, 44-year-old Dinesh Prasad, who has travelled from Ghaziabad, shares a peculiar problem. With banks, ration shops, telecom operators and, occasionally, even hospitals demanding Aadhaar numbers for rendering services, and the deadline to link bank accounts and phone numbers with Aadhaar fast approaching, enrolment centres have become hubs of activity — and apprehension. According to the guard posted at the Pragati Maidan UIDAI centre, 100-120 people are given tokens each day, starting 8 am — an hour before it opens..