According to a recent report covered on Tuesday, Interior Minister of Pakistan Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan stated that:
“Billions of rupees are being spent on NADRA Mega Centres and Executive Passport Offices to facilitate the general public in avoiding long queues at existing facilities”
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The news came to view during the ceremony regarding the launch of a new NADRA Mega Centre in Lahore and Executive Passports Offices (EPO) in Faisalabad and Sargodha. Chaudhry Nisar shared that the NADRA Mega Centre launched in Lahore is facilitated with 48 counters. To add to the ease for public, the NADRA office also provides advanced facilities to issue Computerized National Identity Cards (CNICs).
The Mega Centre of NADRA is to serve the public 24/7. According to the minister, the Mega Centre is promised to handle 3,500 applicants in a day and can accommodate almost 400 people at once. Following that, old people will also be specially served by 4 separate counters.
The NADRA office can be easily accessed by the residents of Ravi Town, Data Ganj Baksh and Shalimar Town.
The EPO office at Faisalabad will be addressing almost 80 applications on daily basis; while that of Sargodha will be processing 60 applications per day.
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As per the minister, steps have been taken to continuously add to the benefit of the public. The NADRA Mega Centres at Karachi and Islamabad are already under operation and successfully serving the people every day. Adding to Nisar, 9 such Mega Centers are being established in different cities and their construction has already kicked off.
He also added that the government has served the public by establishing 84 passport centers – which add to the 88 passport centres that were already operating in 2013. The work of the government has enabled those living in remote areas of the country to easily access NADRA offices.
At current, almost 557 NADRA offices are entertaining the people. Moreover, they would be working with the post office personnel for providing better services.
According to this new concept of collaboration, 10 new post offices will be established in the next two months. These offices shall be responsible for the renewal of identity cards. Following this idea, the numbers will multiply to 1500 post offices throughout the country.
This stupendous work on the Mega Centers of NADRA is the work of NADRA itself, said the minister while answering a reporter. He supported his answer with the fact that the Mega Centers and EPOs are financially supported by NADRA’s self-generated money. And the future is sought to introduce a project of e-passports as well.
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Security concerns
Security has been a main concern regarding CNICs and passports. A total of 200,000 CNICs have been blocked, followed by 30,000 passports during the crackdown against identity theft. The minister revealed the fact that almost 3,600 people were caught carrying fake CNICs during a security campaign.
Following this campaign, the government cancelled 175,000 CNICs. But the citizens have been given the relief to request for reconsideration.
For future cases, if any case shall arise regarding the identity fraud, the card holder will be notified before the cancellation. Furthermore, security steps will be taken against any citizen who is found to be holding multiple ID cards.