Resident ID cards for coastal villages ready

The first consignment of resident identity cards for the people of the coastal villages of Kerala will be formally handed over by the officials of ITI Limited, Kanjikode, to the Postal Department on Monday for dispatch to the citizens.

The task of preparing the resident identity cards under the National Population Register (NPR) for Kerala had been entrusted to ITI Limited.

ITI Limited, Bharat Electronics Limited and Electronic Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) are the three public sector units authorised by the Union Home Ministry to prepare the cards.

Since it involves high security, the electronic smart cards will be handed over by the officials of ITI Limited to the officials of the Postal Department on the ITI premises in Kanjikode and it will be videographed as directed by the Home Ministry.

ITI has also been entrusted with making electronic instruments with special security features so that only authorised government officials could read the data. The people living in the coastal villages will get the cards within the next few days and should preserve them for any references as directed by the Government, said sources. There will be 12 information about an individual on the bio-metric card. There will be a chip inside the smart card which could be read only by authorised government agencies.

The Centre has given priority for completing the preparation of cards in the coastal areas and border areas for security reasons before the other areas in the country are covered, said sources.

Earlier, the ITI Limited had also undertaken a census of the fishermen in the State, prepared their cards and handed it over to the Ministry of Fisheries in Kerala.