Watan cards: Flood-affected people protest suspension of registration

NADRA officials boycott work following ‘rowdy behaviour’.

SARGODHA:

Dozens of people affected by the 2010 flood in River Jhelum staged a protest demonstration on Thursday following suspension of registration for Watan Cards by National Database and Registration Authority officials.

Some of the protesters said they had been visiting the registration centre since the first day of the registration drive a week ago. However, they said, they were sent away everyday and asked to return the next day. They said most of them belonged to Sahiwal and Shahpur tehsils and had to travel a long distance to reach the registration centre in Sargodha.

“In the first couple of days, they told me and others accompanying me from Sahiwal that they were registring farmers from other tehsils but did not give us a date to visit the centre. Later on, they sent us away saying there is too much work,” said Ghulam Abbas.

Abbas was accompanied by his brother Fahim Abbas. They said they had lost their standing crop in the flood.

Others protesting the suspension of registration included  Sikandar Hayat, Umer Hayat, Muhammad Nawaz, Muhammad Riaz and Muhammad Imran from Shahpur and Muhammad Ameer from Sahiwal.

Registration of 10,000 people, affected by flood in Rivers Jhelum and Chenab, is to be verified in Sargodha so that funds can be transferred to their Watan Cards. So far, the NADRA officials have verified the data of 2,100 people.

A NADRA official at the registration centre said they had boycotted work on Thursday due to the unruly behaviour of the beneficiaries. He said they could not work with people shouting around them all day.

He said unlike last year there was no schedule under which farmers were being registered for Watan Card funds this year. Therefore, he said, farmers from all over the district were visiting the centre everyday. “Too many people appear at the centre and argue with us. We end up with a backlog everyday,” he said.

He said six officials were now deployed at the centre for registration. The process had started a week ago with only one official.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 29^th, 2012.