Leakage of biometric details: MLA to meet Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda

Mangaluru City South MLA D. Vedavyas Kamath speaking at a press conference in Mangaluru on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: H.S. MANJUNATH

Mangaluru City South MLA D. Vedavyas Kamath said on Wednesday that he will meet Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda and other senior Revenue Department officials in Bengaluru on Thursday to urge them to take action against reported leakage of biometric details during the time of registration of documents at the Mangaluru city sub-registrar’s office.

Talking to reporters here, Mr. Kamath said 10 days ago he had brought to the notice of officials the issue of people losing money from their bank accounts a few days after giving Aadhaar and fingerprints at the Mangaluru city sub-registrar’s office.

“So far no action has been taken to address concerns of the victims. This is a serious issue. I will meet Mr. Byre Gowda and Revenue Secretary tomorrow (Thursday),” he said.

Mr. Kamath said two persons, who had lost the money, had met him and he had sent them to the Police Commissioner. “The Police Commissioner told me about efforts that are being made to trace the fraudsters,” he said.

Mr. Kamath said he has not heard of a similar leakage of biometric details from other parts of the State. “Unauthorised deduction of amount ranging between ₹1,000 and ₹1 lakh is a huge fraud. The government should own up to the reported leakage and give suitable compensation to victims,” he said.

E-khata

Mr. Kamath said after linking the e-khata system to the server of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, several people in Mangaluru have not got e-khata since last two months. “Officials have so far not resolved the issue,” he said.

Mr. Kamath said several elderly and other needy persons in the city have been denied of old-age pension, widow pension, and other reliefs, which were being given for both BPL and APL card holders by the BJP government. The Congress government is asking beneficiaries to produce BPL card. “As there is no option of getting new cards, the beneficiaries are losing out on relief,” he said.

The MLA said the State government has so far not addressed the issue of the server which is delaying services at the Regional Transport Office, the Mangaluru City Corporation, the sub-registrar’s office, and the Food and Civil Supplies Department.

Though the State government held Janata Darshan in Mangaluru and other parts of the State recently, it has failed to give an account of how many issues affecting people have been resolved so far, he said.