The Finance Minister, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee and the chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India, Mr. Nandan Nilekani have dismissed reports in a section of media that the budgetary allocation for Unique Identification Project, UID has been slashed by the government. <br/><br/>It had been reported that the allocation of 7000 crore rupees earmarked for the projects has been reduced to 3000 crore rupees. Separate statements brought out by Mr. Mukherjee and Mr. Nilekani, in New Delhi today clarified that this is not the correct position. <br/><br/>The Finance Minister said that the government is fully committed to expeditious implementation of the UID project and all funds required for the smooth rollout of the project by the UID Authority will be provided. <br/><br/>Mr. Nilekani also confimed that in Phase I, UID Authority was provided funds for establishing the Authority and for conducting Proof of Concept studies. In Phase II funds are being sought for commencing the Pilot studies and rolling out 10 crore UID numbers by March 2011. <br/><br/>The budget for issuing rest of the UID numbers and related project components will be brought before the Government as part of Phase III in due course. He said, all funds required for the smooth roll out of the project by UID Authority are being provided by the government as per plan.<br/><br/>The Centre had proposed a nearly 16-fold increase in its annual budget to 1,900 crore rupees for the project and authority. The UID is currently tying up with various state governments and other agencies who will act as registrars and help in enrolling residents for the ambitious project.