KARACHI, July 14: The City Council, which met here on Saturday, adopted a unanimous resolution authorizing City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal to sign an agreement with the National Database Registration Authority (Nadra) on a computerized system of birth, death, marriage and divorce record for the city.

The system, named the Civil Registration Management System (CRMS), will cover all 178 union councils of the metropolis. Under the new system, a newborn will also get his National Identity Card number.

A Nadra official was invited by the Convener of the City Council, Nasreen Jalil, to explain the CRMS to the members.

He informed the house that the system had already been introduced in the Punjab province. There would be 18 Nadra inspectors — one for each town — to be deputed to supervise the system.

The convener’s announcement about the introduction of the CRMS resulted in a heated debate in the house with the treasury benches supporting the idea and the opposition members expressing their concerns. However, the debate ended in a rare unanimity of views.

The opposition members led by Rafiq Ahmed of the Al-Khidmat Group suggested that computerized registration of data should be offered free of charge, maintaining that the fee of Rs50 per case proposed by Nadra would be an unnecessary burden on most people.

Treasury members led by Asif Siddiqui and Masood Mehmood of the Haq Parast Group argued that the enforcement of the system was in the best interest of citizens as it would facilitate acquisition of the basic legal documents at the initial stage.

Earlier, resolutions were moved to condole the death of many security personnel in a suicide bombing incident in Miramshah on Saturday. The house offered fateha for the victims of the Lyari gang war.

The resolution on the increase in plot ratio and reclassification of plot Nos. D-106, D-108, D-111 and D-114 in Block 4, Scheme 5, Clifton and land utilization could not be taken up during the day’s proceedings. The item on the agenda for three consecutive sittings of the house was again put off to the next session.

The house will now meet on July 18.