ECIL to make identity cards at Tirupati unit

Hyderabad, Apr 10 (UNI) The public sector Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) will convert its television manufacturing unit at Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh into a dedicated facility for making the Multipurpose National Identity Card for Citizens (MNICC).

After moving away from making non-strategic products, ECIL had been slowing down on making television and other consumer electronic goods and the unit at Tirupati will be making MNICCS, with a pilot project for the North Eastern states already underway to make 22 lakh MNICCS.

As per this, ECIL will make six lakh cards while ITI and BEL at Bangalore, will make the remaining by July 2007 with the assistance of Union Home Ministry.

The MNICCs' will incorporate all aspects of smart card with biometric, touch and iris-based features providing ''all'' information for identification of the Indian Citizens, ECIL CMD K S Rajasekhara Rao said here.

The first batch of MNICCS were handed over at New Delhi to secretary V K Duggal on March 30 just year before he superannuated, he said.

He said ECIL plans to utilise the ''unused'' facilities at Tirupati for the MNICCS. The aim is to provide them to every citizen of India.

UNI