A group of youngsters have found thousands of original Aadhaar cards from a well in Maharashtra. The cards were found from Yavatmal area during a cleaning operation.
According to a report by The Times of India, these Aadhaar cards were recovered when the youngsters were voluntarily desilting the well to make the water usable for drinking purpose. The card, packed in nylon gunny bags were weighed down with rocks. As per the report, these Aadhaar cards belonged to residents of Lohara village, situated on the outskirts of the city.
The district collector Rajesh Deshmukh has ordered a probe on the issue after receiving a complaint to find whether these Aadhaar cards were in the custody of the revenue department staff or the Indian Postal Service. “We will not spare anyone found guilty of dereliction of duties,” he said. “I have also sought help from the Post department since they generally reach the cards to the recipients. The cards appear to be a two-three-year-old,” Deshmukh told The Indian Express. “We will also check which agency was in charge of the card work then,” he added.
Anand Sarkar, Chief postmaster of Yavatmal HQ post office informed that he has appointed a team to probe the matter. He also added that action would be taken after receiving the report.
It was after the directives from the district administration that the youngsters started the cleaning operation. Yavatmal is a place which faces acute shortage of water. The administration had banned the use of water at construction sites and has ordered municipal authorities to remove garbage from wells.
Many NGOs came forward to clean the abandoned wells. One such well was located in Sai Mandir premises in Shinde Nagar area and abandoned Aadhaar cards were found by the volunteers while cleaning this well. The Aadhaar cards were partially damaged, but the details were readable, according to The Times of India report. Many residents thronged the area when they heard the news.
