Union Home Minister P Chidambaram Saturday launched the first batch of Resident Identity Cards under the coastal National Population Register (NPR) project in Porthrapur village in South Andaman district of Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
As many as 365 villages and Port Blair city have been covered under the coastal NPR project. A total of 3,88,398 persons have been covered under the project. Of this, 2,82,885 persons above the age of 18 years would be issued identity cards, said a statement by government.
According to a statement, the government is planning to collect specific items of information of each individual through RIC in the coastal areas in 9 maritime states (Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal) and 4 UTs (Andaman & Nicobar, Puducherry, Lakshadweep and Daman & Diu) to strengthen the security of the coastline of the country.
In all, 3331 coastal villages have been covered in the first phase of the project in the states and UTs. The approved cost of the scheme is Rs 216.31 crore.
