PESHAWAR, Dec 13: The National Database Registration Authority received poor response from the general public in Frontier province and Federally Administered Tribal Areas to submit their computerised national Identity Card forms before the last date, Dec 31.
So far the Nadra regional office has received approximately 1.8 million forms in NWFP and Fata, out of seven million distributed forms.
Official sources told Dawn here on Thursday that the government was likely to extend the deadline for submitting ID forms across the country. Earlier, the federal government had decided that the existing ID cards would be declared invalid after Dec 31 and people would get new computerised ID cards, before the deadline.
The sources said that Nadra regional office had prepared around 0.8 million computerised ID cards and so far distributed about 200,000 cards in NWFP and Fata.
They said that the authority had received 13.8 million forms in Frontier province and Fata, while around seven million forms were distributed. The Nadra has planned to prepare about 10 million computerised ID cards only in NWFP.
Regional director Nadra, Brig Retd Mohammad Anwar Khan, claimed that despite shortage of funds and other hurdles the authority was doing a remarkable job and they were over 100 per cent of the target.
He said that Nadra had received around 1.8 million ID forms from NWFP and Fata of which 1.5 million forms had been fed in the computer. The authority would be able to achieve its target, he added.
He said that the Nadra was distributing ID cards through its representatives who were being given one form free of cost for every ID card they would deliver.
“The Nadra is making efforts to reach the general public, but the people are giving very lukewarm response to our teams”, he said, adding that the authority was also facing scarcity of staff.
He informed that After Dec 31 Nadra would raise the ID card fee from Rs35 to Rs140. He said that recently three new registration offices had been opened in Shangla, Upper Dir and Hangu, though the provincial government had yet to issue the notification of these three new districts.
He disclosed that Afghan refugees also tried to get computerised ID cards, but the authority had curtailed some bogus cards with the help of local people and secret agencies. These bogus cards had been withheld, he said.
Brig Retd Mohammad Anwar informed that Nadra would establish swift registration office in Peshawar where live image capture facilities would be provided to the citizens. This will be a new concept and the centre would likely to start functioning after Eidul Fitr, he said, adding that such facilities had been provided to Islamabad.
