LAHORE, Aug 18: The National Database and Registration Authority has made special arrangements to issue computerized national identity cards to intending pilgrims within 10 days.

Nadra Lahore region Director-General Brig Tariq Moeen briefed newsmen on the salient features of the arrangements as well as the facilities being provided to the ordinary NIC seekers, here on Monday.

He said minimum documents were being sought from the people, who intend to perform haj, to provide them NICs well before Sept 22, the last date for submission of applications for haj. They were being charged just Rs60 (instead of Rs180 for a card), he added.

A separate verification centre had been established for quick processing, and the applicants whose data could not be verified, were being called in by telephone to submit extra documents to prove their credentials, Mr Moeen said.

Answering a question, he said, issuance of computerized child registration certificates had been stopped in the region because of some software problem. However, manual certificates were being issued according to schedule, he added.

The software problem would be removed within a week, he claimed.

The Nadra regional DG said the application for the certificate could be attested even by parents provided they had attained the NICs.

A private courier service, TCS, had been assigned the task of delivering cards in Lahore and Gujranwala, he informed a questioner.

Replying to another question, he said, mistakes were being reported in the NICs which had been booked before February, 2002, when only single entry system was followed. The double entry system, however, was successfully checking mistakes, he said.