Guwahati, July 12: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) today warned people in Assam about unauthorised collection of money by persons on the pretext of enrolment of Aadhaar cards.

The warning comes after the authority's regional office here received reports that some unscrupulous firms and operators were enrolling residents for Aadhaar cards in lower Assam's Barpeta district in a clandestine manner and were collecting service charges from them.

"UIDAI has not authorised any such agency to undertake any enrolment activities for Aadhaar. The Aadhaar enrolment work in Assam has been allocated to Registrar-General of India (RGI) under the ministry of home affairs. RGI's enrolment process is based on enumeration by the census department and part of compilation of National Population Register (NPR). The directorate of census operations, Assam, is implementing these works and shall collect the biometrics of the residents through the authorised sub-registrar/enrolment agencies. No agency can start biometric enrolment without necessary approval from directorate of census operations, Assam," an official of the UIDAI's regional office here told The Telegraph.

"Residents are informed that the process of enrolment for NPR also results in the generation of an Aadhaar number. Hence, they need not enrol for Aadhaar again separately. Biometric enrolment or Aadhaar enrolment is free of cost," added the official.

The UIDAI is doing Aadhaar enrolment in Tripura and Sikkim, while the same is being done by the RGI in other states of the Northeast, including Assam. The process of enrolment had started in Assam in August last year and is being done only in selective areas of the headquarters in Nagaon, Sonitpur and Golaghat districts.

Officials in the state government said the Aadhaar card would be an identity proof of the individual and not a proof of his or her citizenship as confused by many.

"After enrolment, it is mandatory for the enrolment agencies to upload residents' details in UIDAI's server for generation of Aadhaar number. But it is possible that the unscrupulous firms, indulging in fraudulent practices, may not upload the same in UIDAI's server and in that case, the numbers will not be generated. The intention of such unauthorised agencies may be to earn money on the pretext of Aadhaar enrolment. Residents are advised not to get influenced by such people or entity," added the UIDAI official.

They also requested people to report the directorate of census operations, Assam or UIDAI's regional office here about the illegal collection of money.