Seeking to dispel the impression that sharp differences existed between it and the Union Home Ministry over the UIDAI project, the Planning Commission today said it should be allowed to go ahead with steps taken to avoid overlap with the National Population register.
The Planning Commission proposed to take a note to the Cabinet on this which was scheduled to meet on Wednesday, its Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said here.
"We regard the Aadhar project as a very important national project that will enable much greater efficiency in the operation of a large number of government schemes," he told reporters.
"If there is a small overlap [with Home Ministry’s National Population Register] that would not matter. There are many government programmes which do similar things and we don't apply the principle that you should not have any overlap," he said.
"One can never avoid controversies because even when there isn't a controversy somebody has to write a nice press report, he said when asked about reports of differences between the Planning Commission and the Home Ministry over the Aadhar issue.