ABBOTTABAD, Jan 3: The district registrar of Nadra, Abbottabad, has said that the district office would issue 500,000 computerized national identity cards to registered citizens in Abbottabad city.

He said that almost 25 per cent of the people in the district had so far applied for the new cards.

The district registrar, Khalid Khan Jadoon, has said that the government had extended the date last date for acquiring the new ID cards to June 30, 2002. He also said that after that date a late fee of Rs140 would be charged from every applicant.

He revealed that against a total of 125,000 filled-in forms received by Nadra, 31,000 cards had been prepared, of which 24,000 have already been distributed. Regarding the slow response from the public, a Nadra official said that in 346 villages of the Abbottabad district, 160 Nadra representatives were helping people get the new identity cards.