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Our Correspondent
Kohima, Aug. 26 (EMN): Aadhaar service centre at DC office complex in Kohima appeared to be overcrowded with less manpower as the service started functioning after a prolonged closure owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.
People were seen rubbing shoulders standing in long queues for hours to apply for Aadhaar card despite the risks of contracting the novel coronavirus.
Two small adjoining rooms on the ground floor of the DC office, near the district public relations office, was allotted by the authorities for enrolment of Aadhaar cards which began its operation in the second week of August.
While undertaking a tour of the centre on Wednesday, it was observed that the narrow corridor of the floor was filled up with a large number of people including children and elderly citizens while only two staff were found catering to the needs of the applicants who came either for correction or new enrolment.
The narrow corridor did not have enough space to maintain social distancing while applicants, who had come to the centre as early as 9 am, had no choice but to wait for their turn in queue to get enrolled for the Aadhaar card during the working hours.
Children as young as seven years and senior citizens as old as 80 years including college students were seen standing for hours as the two staff attended to each applicant.
A pregnant woman informed this newspaper that she had to wait in the line despite the inconveniences as she required to obtain her Aadhaar card as early as possible.
College students who came for the enrolment also informed that they had been standing for more than three hours while parents along with their children had to undergo the same ordeal of long waiting.
It was learnt that one staff member had stopped coming to the service centre as the Aadhaar machine had malfunctioned about a week ago.
Meanwhile, the two staff were seen engaged with the applicants from communicating, capturing biometric data inputs to scanning necessary documents by themselves in a hectic manner.