Leh, April 28: The Chief Secretary of the Union Territory of Ladakh, Dr Pawan Kotwal, Mon-day fine-tuned the roadmap for ensuring 100 percent Aadhaar coverage in the Ladakh Union Territory.
Kotwal chaired a review meeting of the UID Implementation Committee (UIDIC) at the Civil Secretariat, Leh, to assess Aadhaar penetration and utilisation across the region.
Assistant Manager, UIDAI Ladakh, Mohammad Taief, presented a detailed status report high-lighting key achievements and persisting challenges, particularly in the enrolment of chil-dren aged 0–5 years. His presentation covered several critical areas, including the function-ing of Aadhaar centres, department-wise Aadhaar penetration, the use of Aadhaar in wel-fare schemes, the operational status of enrolment kits, mandatory biometric updates (MBUs), and the resolution of Aadhaar–school record mismatches.
It was reported that, as of 2025, Ladakh had achieved an Aadhaar generation rate of 87.06 percent, with 19,615 mandatory biometric updates still pending. The Chief Secretary di-rected the Department of School Education to organise special MBU camps in schools to ex-pedite enrolment, particularly among young children.
Specific attention was drawn to under-covered blocks such as Thiksey, Rong, Nimmo, Saspol, and Tupsho. Reviewing the progress, Dr Kotwal stressed the immediate repair and activation of non-functional Aadhaar enrolment kits. He instructed officials to prepare a pragmatic roadmap to achieve full Aadhaar coverage, placing special focus on pending MBUs.
Bhawna Garg, Director General, UIDAI Regional Office Chandigarh, underscored the im-portance of digital verifiable certificates. She noted that QR code-based, digitally signed documents would further streamline the Aadhaar updating and enrolment process. Addi-tionally, Dr Kotwal directed that fixed Aadhaar service locations be established at SDM and DC offices, ensuring the permanent availability of operators to facilitate enrolment and up-dates. The meeting was attended by Bhawna Garg, DG UIDAI RO Chandigarh; Administrative Secretaries of the Medical and Health Education, Information Technology, Agriculture, School Education, and General Administration Departments of UT Ladakh; the District Mag-istrate, Leh; Director of Health Services, UT Ladakh; and senior officials from UIDAI. The Dis-trict Magistrate, Kargil, and other concerned officials joined the meeting virtually.
