NADRA to step up registration process, urges Sindh chief secretary

Ghulam Ali Shah Pasha urges NADRA to upload records so that the survivors can be issued Watan cards.

KARACHI: The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) must upload the records of remaining flood-affected union councils so that the survivors can be issued Watan cards, said Sindh Chief Secretary Ghulam Ali Shah Pasha.

Any grievances related to Watan cards must be resolved as soon as possible, he said, while addressing a meeting at his office on Friday. The provincial ministers present in the meeting raised the issue of the numerous complaints against the issuing process of Watan cards, lack of NADRA centres and lack of ATM booths.

Pasha directed NADRA chairman Hakim Ali Arshad to upload the records of remaining flood survivors on their computers by October 24. He also said that more NADRA centres should be opened in the flood-affected districts and towns.

All hindrances in the process of issuing Watan cards, in terms of coordination with NADRA and other departments, must be cleared, said Pasha, directing the Provincial Disaster Management Authority to make a comprehensive policy in order to assess the losses of flood survivors in coordination with the Board of Revenue and District Coordination Officers.

Earlier, NADRA chairman said that they have established card issuing centres in Sachal Goth, Gulshan-e-Hadeed, SITE, Thatta and other areas of the province. More than 18 million mobile messages were received for the confirmation of eligibility for Watan cards and 8.3 of these people were confirmed as eligible.

It was decided that the next meeting will be held after 10 days to review the progress on same issues.

Provincial ministers Sassui Palijo, Agha Siraj Durani, Muhammad Ayaz Soomro and MPAs Imran Zafar Laghari, Fayyaz Butt, Agha Taimoor Pathan and Chief Minster Inspection Team (CMIT) chairman Abdul Subhan Memon were also present at the meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 23^rd, 2010.