Over 10,000 fishermen in East Godavari district are yet to receive biometric identity cards that can be accessed by authorised agencies to strengthen coastal security and reduce the threat of terror attacks from the sea route. The idea behind biometric cards had been proposed by the Centre in 2009 following the terror attack in Mumbai in 2008. The task of generating the cards had been handed over to the Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL).
Under the initiative, the customs department and Indian Coast Guard will verify the credentials of resident and marine fisherfolk in coastal villages with the help of card readers. The readers will check the authenticity of the cards issued by the fisheries department. The machines will also examine the authenticity of resident cards recorded in the National Population Register. However, with ECIL having withdrawn from the initiative and over 10,000 fishermen yet to receive their cards, repeated pleas raised by the fisheries department with higher officials have not yielded results. Deputy director of fisheries, East Godavari, P V Satyanarayana said, “We are making repeated requests to get the work done for the remaining fishermen.”