Kandahar residents want CNIC process accelerated

KANDAHAR CITY (Pajhwok): As many as 16,000 people have been issued the computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) since its launch six months ago in southern Kandahar province.

According to concerned officials, 64,000 people have applied and out of them 16,000 have received their CNIC so far in the province, where residents are complaining against the slow-paced work and demand the process to be accelerated.

Kandahar province has three million population and currently two facilities are available providing CNICs in Kandahar City, the provincial capital.

SamiullahMaqsoudi, head of the National Statistics and Information Authority (NSIA) for Kandahar, said around 64,000 people have applied for CNIC and their documents were available with them.

He said out of them 20,000 to 25,000 people have been identified, 18,000 completed their biometric verification and the evaluation of documents of the remaining applicants was underway.

He said people’s interest in getting CNIC has increased as more and more people are applying at their offices.

He said a new branch to distribute CNIC has been opened in the 6^th Municipality District of the provincial capital while the number of such facilities would be increased five to six until the end of this year.

He said currently every facility has the capacity to register up to 250 persons daily because they were struggling with manpower and has contacted authorities in the central capital to resolve the problem.

According to Maqsoudi, many people are illiterate and they don’t have the ability to fill their forms so their employees help them fill their forms and this has made the process sluggish.

In addition, he said many women in Kandahar don’t have paper Tazkera but now they refer to them for CNIC and in order to confirm their nationality, it takes more time.

In addition, in line with the Presidential Decree, they have given priority to applicants from government institutions because their salaries and other related matters would be discharged on the basis of CNIC.

The residents of Kandahar province demand the CNIC process to be accelerated and the period of processing to be shortened.

Mohammad Shoiab, a resident of Kandahar City, said it took many days to complete his biometric and identity confirmation process and after completion of these two stages, he still waited for a long time to get his CNIC.

Faizullah, another resident, said he filled forms for CNIC two months earlier and completed the biometric process but he recently received his CNIC after a long time.

The residents of Kandahar districts demand that CNIC offices should be opened in districts so that people could apply there.

nh/ma

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