STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: Contractual employees of the National Health Mission (NHM) and Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) will have to provide biometric Aadhaar authentication to receive payments through the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) framework.
NHM Assam has issued a directive to all districts to ensure 100 per cent biometric Aadhaar authentication by November 25 to facilitate payment through DBT.
The mission has further directed that the bank accounts of all beneficiaries, ASHAs and NHM employees be linked with their Aadhaar numbers through the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) mapper, as DBT-based payments are scheduled to commence from next month.
In an official communication to the principal secretaries of Bodoland Territorial Council, Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council and Dima Hasao Autonomous Council, district commissioners and joint directors of health services, NHM stated that the initiative follows directives issued by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to ensure biometric Aadhaar authentication of beneficiaries and payments through Aadhaar Payment Bridge (APB).
The authentication process will be carried out through a newly introduced "Aadhaar Authentication" module on the Swasthya Sewa Darpan (SSD) portal, which has been integrated with the Aadhaar Vault for biometric verification of NHM employees and ASHAs.
NHM Assam has procured Visiontek V600 USB L1 optical fingerprint scanners and distributed them to all districts. The devices are to be utilised at district headquarters and block-level offices as per administrative convenience.
Access to the Aadhaar authentication module has been provided to district programme managers (DPMs), district data managers (DDMs), block programme managers (BPMs), block data managers (BDMs) and block community mobilisers (BCMs). A user manual has also been provided to facilitate the process.
The directive emphasises the importance of completing the verification and Aadhaar-bank account mapping process within the stipulated timeline to ensure seamless and timely disbursement of payments under various NHM schemes.
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