KARACHI, Dec 30: The National Database Registration Authority will set up “call centres” in three major cities - Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad - where people can lodge complaint and get information about their under-process computerized national identity cards.
“We are also going to do away with paper work as data on individuals would be recorded into the databank directly as is being done at the Swift Centres,” said Nadra Chairman Brig Saleem Ahmed Moeen (retd) at a meet-the-press programme at Karachi Press Club on Monday.
He said people had been facing problems in getting information and lodging complaints about their applications for CNIC, so Nadra had decided to open at least three “call centres” in three major cities, which people could contact by dialling specified numbers and get information about their application for the issuance of CNIC. This would be hassle-free.
He said after complaints about missing of application forms were received, Nadra devised a software for tracking the forms which were being processed since April this year. After forms were submitted, they had been scanned in computers and each of the forms were given a code. Now at the request of an applicant information about the form could be found anytime.
About the issuance of CNICs to illegal immigrants, he said Nadra’s aim was to collect data on individuals and to prepare a databank of the entire population. Once the databank was completed, illegal immigrants would be identified. So far, he said, more than 800 forms, submitted by illegal immigrants, had been detected and nearly CNICs, issued to illegal immigrants, had been withdrawn.
Not only were the CNICs of illegal immigrants cancelled and their application forms blocked, but those who had attested their forms had also been booked in FIRs, lodged by Nadra, he disclosed. In Karachi, the withdrawal of CNICs from illegal immigrants was difficult. Nadra had, however, withdrawn 67 CNICs from illegal immigrants in the city, he said.
Answering a question why the passport office in Karachi did not accept the CNIC, Saleem Moeen said it was not to his knowledge and he would look into the matter. He said once the databank of the citizens was completed, every thing would get streamlined. The proposed machine-readable passports would be issued on the basis of the new computerized ID cards, he added.
About application forms for CNICs submitted by a family of five and only one of them having received the CNIC, he acknowledged the responsibility for the rejection of the forms, and said it was the duty of Nadra officials who received forms. They should carefully examine the forms before they were submitted. He assured applicants that they would get their CNICs. Nadra sent postcards to those whose forms were rejected or if there were objections on their forms so that they could remove the objections, he said.
He was of the view that without the cooperation of the people Nadra alone could not issue CNICs. He said Nadra had to issue more than 70 million CNICs. It was a difficult task as 25-30 per cent of the population lived in far-flung areas where there was no infrastructure and means of communication. Then there was the problem of low literacy rate of 37 per cent. Illiterate people faced difficulty in getting application forms filled out.
Nadra had decided to use mobile vans in far-flung areas. These vans would go to the doorsteps of the people, Nadra staff fill out applicants’ forms and take their photographs, he said. Initially, Nadra would press only 25 mobile vans into service, as this needed funds.
He said the data on individuals would reveal many things. For instance, in Chakwal there were more than 700 mentally retarded persons, but there was no hospital or any other facility there for their treatment.
He said the databank would help the government to draw up development plans in a much better way.
He said by the end of January Nadra would have issued 28 million CNICs. He said the number of rejected cards was 0.32 million, which was 2.96 per cent of the total number of the cards delivered. The rejection rate was an acceptable 2-3 per cent, he added.
About Swift Centres, he said a pilot project of Swift Centre was initiated in Rawalpindi, which proved successful. Now Nadra had set up 29 Swift Centres all over the country and by the end of January a total of 62 Swift Centres would be functioning.