The Hyderabad police, pointing to the growing significance of the Aadhaar has embarked on a drive to link unique identification numbers with licenses of firearms.
“Whoever has an Aadhaar card must furnish it so that it is linked to the arms license. The rationale is that the UID is being linked with various other services. We are following this trend,” said a senior police officer. According to the figures, there are 4,365 arms licenses within the jurisdiction of the Hyderabad police commissioner.
“The geo tagging is being done purely for internal purposes and is not meant for public consumption. The station house officer has to periodically visit residences of arms license holders to keep a check.
The geo tagging is done only to facilitate his visits,” the senior cop said. Cops clarified that furnishing the Aadhaar numbers is not mandatory.
“Not having an Aadhaar card is no grounds for us to deny issuing or renewing arms licenses. It is just that those who have the card must furnish information,” the senior official said.
Deputy commissioner of police said that the process is underway. “We are not forcing anybody to give us the Aadhaar number. This is being done across the Hyderabad Police Commissionerate limits,” he said.
