Daily Times

RAWALPINDI: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Tuesday inaugurated a state of the art National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) centre and executive passport office in Rahmanabad, a one-window operation facility in the city.

Talking to the media, Khan said that five more centres would be set up in Islamabad and four provincial capitals where international standard facilities would be provided to citizens. He said the government was taking solid steps to provide modern facilities to people.

He said that more than 100,000 Computerised National Identity Cards (CNICs), including those issued illegally to foreigners in the past, had been blocked. He said that thousands of fake CNICs issued to Afghan nationals had also been blocked. He said that more than 200 NADRA officials who issued fake CNICs were terminated and arrested on account of corrupt practices. He said that corruption in government departments would not be tolerated. He said the VIP culture for passport seekers had been abolished.

Khan said that Rs22 billion would be collected under the head of passport and immigration fee in the current fiscal year. He said the NADRA was running in a loss of Rs1 billion in the last year of the previous government, but it earned Rs5 billion profit in the first year of the PML-N government and Rs6 billion profit in the second year.

To a question, Khan said, “We are taking indiscriminate action against NADRA officials involved in issuance of fake CNICs.”

Earlier, NADRA Chairman Usman Mubeen Yousaf informed the minister that the newly opened centre would cater to the needs of 700 to 800 applicants every day. He said the centre would offer all NADRA services, including identity cards, birth certificates and family registration certificates in minimum time. He said the new centre had an executive passport office where people could apply for passports.

The NADRA side of the centre had a seating capacity for 85 people and the passports side had the seating capacity for 96 people. Initially, the centre would operate in normal office hours, but its timing would be extended later.