Punjab Police on Monday clarified that Aadhaar continues to be accepted as a valid government-issued identity and address proof at all Saanjh Kendras across the state.Issuing a statement, Special Director General of Police (Community Affairs Division) Gurpreet Kaur Deo said no directions to the contrary had been issued by Punjab Police.She said Aadhaar remains a valid document for identity and address verification at all Saanjh Kendras and that Punjab Police have been authorised by the UIDAI in March this year to carry out Aadhaar authentication, on a voluntary basis, for residents availing police services.According to the Special DGP, the authorisation was conveyed by the UIDAI to the Punjab government’s Department of Home Affairs in March this year under the provisions of the Aadhaar Act, 2016, and the rules framed thereunder.She said Aadhaar authentication is currently available for a range of police services, including tenant verification, passport verification, arms licence verification for new licences and renewals, employee verification, servant or domestic help verification, service verification for government employees, police clearance certificates for visa purposes, issuance of character certificates, reporting of loss of articles, no-objection certificates for loudspeakers, fairs and melas, and even FIR registration.The police clarification came after a Tribune report on Monday said that Saanjh Kendras in many parts of the state were not accepting Aadhaar as valid document of identity proof. The employees of the Saanjh Kendras had told The Tribune that they had received a communication from their headquarters against accepting Aadhaar card as valid proof of identification. The Saanjh Kendra officials told people that voter card or any other form of identity card as a driving licence or a passport were valid.