Bangalore, Aug. 25: Nearly 2.4 crore smart cards will be distributed to Employees State Insurance (ESI) beneficiaries by August 2010, Union labour minister Mallikarjuna Kharge said today, at the rollout of the first set of these cards, called “Pehchan”.

The smart card project, implemented by software firm Wipro Infotech, is among the largest e-governance projects in the country with a total outlay of Rs 1,182 crore spread over six-and-a-half years.

It aims to digitise personal, medical and biometric data of the people insured under ESI which would enable them to access medical services in any ESI hospital or dispensary in the country by swiping the magnetic identity card.

The Pehchan cards — a set of two for each insured person which includes one for the family members — will be initially distributed in Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi where data collection has begun. “The rollout will start in other states shortly,” Kharge said.

The cards are one component of the ESI’s Project Panchdeep, which involves four other modules called Milap, Pashan, Dhanvantri and Pragati relating to programmes such as human resources, finance and general administration.