Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy on Wednesday said Kerala would become the first state in the country to complete the Centre sponsored project of providing Unique ID number to its citizens.

The state extended full-coperation to complete the project within a year during discussion on the progress of the project held with the officials concerned, Chandy told reporters held after a cabinet meeting here on Wednesday.

State also decided to bear the expenses of Rs 49.50 crore for the project, which would be re-imbursed by the Centre later, Chandy said. The project is being implemented in the state by IT@School, Keltron and Akshya, all state supprted agencies.

With a view to speed up the project, the work of the project would be taken up simultaneously across the state instead of two districts as decided earlier, he said.