PANAJI: The Chief Minister, Mr Digambar Kamat will discuss various key issues pertaining to the Unique Identification Project of the central government with the chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India, Mr Nandan Nilekani, including definition of a resident and a citizen, as per the project.
The Chief Minister is the chairman of the State Unique Identification Implementation Committee, constituted last year.
Earlier, the leader of the opposition, Mr Manohar Parrikar questioned the Chief Minister as to whether the status of the residents of Goa would be upgraded to the citizens, once they are given a unique identification number under the project.
"As per the guidelines of the Election Commission, any person who resides in a particular place for a period of 6 months is a resident of that place," he pointed out, adding that if such residents are given status of the citizens of Goa by the Unique Identification Authority, then Goans will disappear from Goa and the state would be flooded with non-Goans.
The Mapusa MLA, Mr Francis D’Souza, pointing out the contents of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Unique Identification Authority of India and the government of India, for implementation of the UID project said that the project proposes to give UID number to all residents of India.
Speaking further, the Chief Minister said that Mr Nilekani and his team had visited Goa and informed him that the UID project was being run on pilot basis in two districts of Karnataka. "The pilot project is now on the verge of completion and as soon as it is completed, the project would be taken up for smaller states like Goa and Delhi," he maintained, noting that the pilot project would bring out drawbacks, if any, during the full-fledged implementation of the project.
The leader of the opposition also questioned the rationale behind appointing the staff of the department of civil supplies and consumer affairs as registrars for implementing the particular project.
"It is very risky to allow them to shoulder such a serious responsibility, especially after observing how they have handled the matter pertaining to kerosene dealers," he noted.
The Chief Minister said that the department of civil supplies and consumer affairs have maximum data in the form of ration cards and therefore, its staff has been recruited as registrars. He also stated that the implementation of the project in Goa would commence after the completion of the related pilot project run by the Unique Identification Authority of India.
