KARACHI: Officials in passport dept worried over future - Nadra's control
By Arman Sabir
KARACHI, Sept 15: Uncertainty prevails in the ranks and files of passport office as their task has been taken over by the National Database Registration Authority (Nadra).
The Authority has been executing the pilot project of issuing machine-readable passports (MRPs), replacing the obsolete manual ones, with the aim of eliminating possibility of forgery.
Sources revealed that offices of the passport department, currently in Saddar, would gradually shift to the Awami Markaz. They pointed out that the army-managed Nadra had initially launched the pilot project in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.
In Karachi, it opened a 'passport office' at the Awami Markaz which had been connected with Islamabad. The other two centres, one at Aisha Manzil in Federal B Area and the other in Saddar, would also be connected with Islamabad in a week, they added.
The fee structure, for both normal and urgent MRPs, has not been revised. After the pilot project is executed, the Nadra will take over passport offices across the country, the sources said.
An official source apprehended that the process of issuing MRPs might not take a start as per the worked out schedule as the newly-designed passport books were not likely to be ready on time.
"As soon as Nadra receives the passport books and deputy directors start sitting at the new offices under Nadra's control, we will start issuing the new passports," the source said.
Although both the authorities fall under the purview of the interior ministry, the decision to give passport office under Nadra for that latter's being financially stronger, had created a rift between them. Sources pointed out that Nadra may make further financial gains from the decision as issuance of passports would add more in Nadra's revenues.
At the same time, they said, officials in the passport office appeared worried about their future as they did not know whether they would be accommodated in the new set-up.
However, a senior passport official, requesting anonymity, said: "I don't think any of us will be laid off. Officials of this department are competent enough to handle the new technology."
Director (Passports and Immigration) Ejaz Ahmed Khan, seemedfrustrated as he avoided any remarks on the issue of the shifting of passport office to Awami Markaz. When asked to comment on the affair, he said: "I am overburdened with work. You should have sought an appointment before asking such questions."
A spokesman for Nadra has denied that the passport department has been taken over by Nadra. "There is no such provision in the law to take over the passport and immigration department by Nadra. We are just facilitating the agency, but issuance of passports will remain with the passport and immigration department," he clarified.
He said Nadra would impart training to passport officials and ultimately hand over the equipment to the passport department. He said that MRPs would be issued to those who would be seeking fresh passports or apply for the renewal of their old passports.
Those already having a valid manual passport were not required to seek a fresh one until it expired, he added. The agents, sitting outside the passport office in Saddar to 'help' applicants fill their forms, believe that shifting of the office to Awami Markaz was simply impossible.
However, they deduced from the available information that application forms would continue to be submitted with the Saddar office and the passports (MRPs) might also be issued from here.
They said there would be only a difference of the process as the MRPs would now be prepared by Nadra in Islamabad and sent back to the passport office in Saddar for issuance to the applicants.
