KARACHI, July 7: Sindh governor Dr Ishratul Ibad on Monday asked the NADRA officials to utilize all available resources to further facilitate citizens seeking Computerized National Identity Cards (CNICs).

Inaugurating the newly established NADRA’s Central Distribution Centre (CDC) at Awami Markaz, he appreciated the central delivery system and observed that by continuously inventing new systems, the NADRA had been playing its due role in establishing an authentic database.

“This will enable the government to plan proper utilization of local resources and eradicate some basic problems like poverty and unemployment,” he said.

The CDC is “a remarkable concept”, where citizens get their CNICs in a friendly, respected and hassle free environment, he said.

Earlier, the chairman of NADRA, Saleem Ahmed Moeen, informed the governor that the citizens had been provided the facility of high-tech CDC with 22 counters for collection of CNICs from 9:00am to 7:00pm.

He said that the citizens could call at 111-786-000 to confirm the arrival of their computerized cards at the distribution centre. After confirmation, he said, the citizens could easily collect the cards from the newly-established centre.

He informed the governor that the NADRA had set up 26 Swift Registration Centres (SRCs) in the city to promote the paper-free environment and facilitate the CNICs applicants. He hoped that Karachi would soon be the first city of Pakistan having maximum cards prepared through formless method.

He said that the NADRA had received about 30 million applications. Around 29 million computerized cards had been prepared, out of which 28 million cards had been distributed throughout the country so far.

He said that the NADRA, since its inception in March 2000, had come a long way despite the fact that it had no model to follow to operate state-of-art-technology and achieved this without any foreign help or assistance. —PPI