KATHMANDU, May 12: Millions of service seekers across the country have been affected as the server of the Department of National ID and Civil Registration (DoNIDCR) has remained down for the past ten days, disrupting a wide range of essential public services.
The disruption, which began on May 4, has halted services linked to the National Identity Management Information System, including correction of national ID details, issuance of personal identification numbers during birth registration, biometric verification for renewal of social security allowance cards, and other interconnected public services.
The director of the DoNIDCR, Sanubabu Adhikari, admitted that the system had suffered a technical failure. “A technical problem has occurred, and the technical team is working to resolve it,” he said, adding that he could not say exactly when services would resume.
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The prolonged outage triggered frustration among service seekers on Tuesday, creating tension at the department office. According to sources, some agitated individuals even attempted to manhandle employees after failing to receive services. Police were briefly deployed after staff members were allegedly threatened.
The outage has also disrupted passport-related services, as newly generated national identity numbers cannot currently be verified. This has affected services provided by the Department of Passports and District Administration Offices.
Citizens trying to correct personal details on their national ID cards have also been forced to return empty-handed from ward offices, while senior citizens and other beneficiaries have faced problems after biometric verification services required for social security allowance renewal came to a standstill.
The DoNIDCR had issued a public notice on May 6 acknowledging problems in the information system and stating that maintenance work was underway. However, services had not returned to normal as of Tuesday.
Officials at the DoNIDCR said discussions have also been held with the Ministry of Home Affairs regarding possible alternatives, including temporarily operating through the old system, but no concrete solution has yet been introduced.
