Maharashtra govt mandates fishermen leaving ports for fishing to carry QR-coded Aadhaar cards

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The Maharashtra government has ordered that fishermen venturing into the sea for fishing will have to carry a QR-coded Aadhaar card before leaving the ports in the state, an official said on Friday, reported news agency PTI.

Fisheries Department Commissioner Kishore Tawde said the decision has been taken as a step to strengthen coastal security, reported PTI.

Fisheries and Ports Minister Nitesh Rane recently visited Sassoon Dock in south Mumbai and found that the majority of the sailors did not carry their Aadhaar cards.

After that, the minister instructed the authorities to issue formal orders mandating the fishermen leaving the ports for fishing to carry QR-coded Aadhaar cards, he said, reported PTI.

The fisheries department has also made it mandatory for the operators of the fishing trawlers to paint their registration number on it, reported PTI.

Renewals of licences will only be done after compliance with the order and licenses of those who do not comply with the order will be cancelled, Tawde said.

4,066 new Aadhaar kits to be distributed to collector's office across Maharashtra: Minister Ashish Shelar

The state Information Technology (IT) department will distribute 4,066 new Aadhaar kits to the district collector's offices across Maharashtra on February 10, Minister Ashish Shelar said on Thursday.

In 2014, a total of 3,873 Aadhaar card kits were provided to district collector offices, and e-centers offering services like issuing new cards, renewing them, and updating addresses are operational across the state. Of these, about 2,558 kits are currently in use and 1,315 kits were reported to the government for malfunctioning. Also, 2,567 new kits were ordered from the collector's office. In view of the demands from the rural areas in this regard, Maharashtra IT Minister Shelar held a meeting with the officials concerned, including the Secretary of the Department of Information Technology, Parag Jain Nainutia, at the Ministry on Thursday to review the situation. The decision to provide 4,066 new kits, which are currently undergoing Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) testing, was announced after the meeting.

Of the total kits, Ahilyanagar will get 34, Akola 78, Amravati 109, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar 134, Beed 58, Bhandardara 23, Buldhana 124, Chandrapur 74, Dhule 113, Gadchiroli 44, Gondia 48, Hingoli 88, Jalgaon 167, Jalna 104, Kolhapur 188, Latur 271, Mumbai City 103, Mumbai Suburban 122, Nagpur 91, Nanded 112, Nandurbar 90, Nashik 49, Osmanabad 73, Palghar 153, Parbhani 55, Pune 338, Raigad 63, Ratnagiri 59, Sangli 130, Satara 132, Sindhudurg 160, Solapur 146, Thane 400, Wardha 50, Washim 100, and Yavatmal 83.

(With inputs from PTI)