KATHMANDU, Jan 11: Ram Tamang of Gokarneshwor Municipality has been visiting the District Administration Office (DAO), Kathmandu for three days to get his national identity card number.

He lines up to get the token, but all the tokens are taken before his turn comes. Tamang, who was found on the DAO premises on Friday, complained that he had not received the token even after waiting in line since 4 in the morning. “Some people have been queuing since 10 PM the day before. People lining up at 4 AM have no chance of getting their hands on the token,” he said. People like Tamang have been queuing up from 4 AM in the cold.

Those who do not receive tokens in the morning often reach the DAO in the afternoon asking for a solution. Once they reach there, they contact the inquiry branch. The staffers there always say, “Token distribution for the day is over. Come and line up tomorrow morning.” According to the Department of National ID and Civil Registration, it issues around 1,200 tokens a day across the country. Of which, 300 tokens are distributed daily in Kathmandu alone.

The 1,200 tokens distributed in one day are not enough for the service recipients waiting in line to go abroad. Therefore, the youth are suffering a lot to get the national identity card number and get an electronic passport. The Department of Passports (DoP) started issuing e-passports from November 17. National identity cards have been made mandatory for electronic passports. Even after the expiry of machine-readable passports, the passport holders should get an e-passport for renewal.

Ganesh Kunwar, a manpower operator said, "People are suffering so much to get a national identity card number and an electronic passport that it has created extreme frustration toward the state among the youth who are going abroad."

Director General of the Department of National ID and Civil Registration Tirtha Raj Bhattarai said, "If the government decides, we will provide services from all 753 local units, district administrations of 77 districts and area administration offices." He said around 1,200 tokens are distributed from 276 stations across the country.

He said that arrangements have been made to issue national identity cards in all the municipalities of Kathmandu from Monday. He also said that distribution of national identity cards has been started in Dakshinkali and Sankhu since Sunday. There is a mandatory requirement to get a token even if you fill in the online form yourself. “If someone fills the form online, the work will be a lot faster,” the department stated.

On the other hand, service recipients state that even after filling in the details online, the work has not been easier and they are still suffering. You have to go again to get the number. Even after getting the national ID number, the torment doesn’t end there as they have to go through another ordeal to get an electronic passport.

According to DoP, 1,000 electronic passports are being distributed in Kathmandu every day and 150 to 200 passports are being distributed outside the valley daily. "We have made arrangements to issue electronic passports in 22 districts besides Kathmandu to provide speedy service to the service recipients," said Sharad Raj Aran, spokesperson for DoP.

According to him, distribution of e-passports has been started from Jhapa, Morang, Sunsari, Dhanusha, Mohattari, Sarlahi, Makwanpur, Chiwtan, Rupandehi, Kapilvastu, Kailali, Kanchanpur and other districts outside Kathmandu.

After getting the national ID number, one should fill the online form to get the e-passport. After filling the form online, the date and time to get the passport is fixed. This arrangement is kept online. "I was tortured for two months even after filling the online form," said Ganga Bhandari of Sindhuli, who was about to leave for Japan.

Last week, she managed to get an e-passport. "I don't know if I will be able to go to Japan," she said.

Meanwhile, the statement of the Home Ministry is different. "We have no staff. Even if we increase the number of offices for the distribution of national ID cards, we don’t have enough staff to be placed there," said a joint secretary at the ministry. “The ministry somehow manages staffers but they get transferred elsewhere.”

“Employees are reluctant to go to places where there are crowds, and receive daily complaints from clients. Even those who are placed in such offices, try to be relocated to other departments,” he further added.

 
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