SANGHAR, Dec 10: Almost 50 per cent of the population above 18 years of age of Sanghar district will remain without computerized national identity cards after Dec 31, the last date fixed for the validity of the existing national identity cards.

The population of the district is between 1.45 and 1.50 million. Out of this, about 45 to 50 per cent is above 18 years of age.

According to the details obtained from the local registration office, some 300,000 forms for computerized cards have been issued from 2001 till today.

The NADRA Swift Registration Centre, Sanghar, is able to register merely 300 to 350 applications daily.

If calculated by an average of 26 working days in a month, 8,450 cards can be made in a month and for about 350,000 remaining eligible population of the district, 41 months will be required to make computerized cards for the entire population of the district.

This correspondent carried out a survey and contacted MNAs, MPAs, Nazims, councillors and social workers who said that the procedure of attestation should be made easy and the fees for cards charged by NADRA was high.

Ms Tahira, a member of the Taluka Council and also a social worker, said that a country like Pakistan where almost 45 per cent people were illiterate and 40 per cent were living below the poverty line (income less than one dollar per day) and unemployment was on the rise, getting a computerized card was almost an impossible task. Rs75 for ordinary and Rs180 for an urgent are charged. How can a daily wage earner who has 10 to 12 family members arrange the amount when flour is available at Rs12 to Rs14 per kg? The population of Achhro Thar, where about 30 to 40 per cent people are not registered at all (who do not even have an old NIC). It takes two days from far-flung areas of Achhro Thar to reach Khipro and then to the Swift Registration Centre at Sanghar, so how can they get computerized national identity cards within the 20 days remaining? The attestation of registration form is another uphill task. It is mandatory that these forms should be attested by a grade-17 and above officer or by a union council Nazim. The officers oblige only those who are acquainted with them, while the Nazims are not available all the time.

MPA Dr Bhagchand Hardasani said that any person who has a computerized card should be authorized to attest the form of the person of the same district from where he has obtained his card, besides councillors and teachers of high schools can also be allowed to do the same.

He also demanded a mobile van for Swift Registration Centre in the desert areas of Khipro Taluka.

He said if the old cards are cancelled at once, it will create a havoc and a crisis-like situation for the majority of the Pakistani population.

On being contacted, the assistant manager, NADRA SRC, Sanghar, Maqsood Ali Jhandani, said that it was a misconception that after Dec 31 no computerized card would be issued, only the old NICs would loose their validity.

He hoped that within the next few months, NADRA will make computerized national identity cards for the entire eligible population of the district.

He also informed that a new Swift Registration Centre at Tando Adam would start working by Dec 15 and then in Shahdadpur and Khipro to cover all the Talukas of the district.