Surat : Diamond City Sweats in Winter Queues for Aadhaar, Income Woes

Surat :  The festive spirit in Surat, the “diamond city,” is facing a frosty reality for many residents as they endure long, serpentine queues for Aadhaar cards and income certificates at the Central zone office of the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) in Mughalsarai.

This winter chill has nothing to do with the weather; it’s the result of a 25-day technical glitch that brought Aadhaar operations to a standstill, and now residents are paying the price.

For the past two days, the Central Zone office has been swamped with people jostling for their essential documents. The long wait, starting as early as 7 am, is compounded by the agonizing slowness of the staff and alleged mismanagement. Residents, shivering in the biting cold, are forced to spend hours in line just to collect income certificates crucial for their EWS (Economically Weaker Section) house allotments by the government.

Adding fuel to the fire is the claim that the staff is working with only one operational kit, despite having five allocated to the zone. This bottleneck, coupled with the high demand of over 1100 Aadhaar card updates and new applications across all seven zones, creates a perfect storm of frustration and despair.

“There are 5 kits in the Central Zone, one of which is closed. In all, there are 33 kits operational in all the seven municipal zones. More than 1100 Aadhaar card updates and new cards are being updated. In future, new kits will be placed in the zones where there is demand,” said Harshad Kinkhabwala, Deputy Commissioner of SMC.

However, residents are unimpressed with promises of future solutions. They demand immediate action to address the current chaos. With the festive season approaching, the long queues are not just a time-consuming inconvenience; they are a source of anxiety and stress for many Surat residents desperately needing their documents.

Rashida Shaikh, a resident of Bhagal said, “We came here in the morning and waited for our turn for more than five hours. The staff is working very slow and they are totally inefficient”