Passport and police verification
Arecent survey conducted by Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) found that three out of four new passport seekers had to pay speed money to get clearances. These include police verification and attestation of documents. The survey conducted from September 2016 to May, 2017 concludes that more than half of passport seekers have fallen victim to various types of irregularities, harassment and corruption. Although the latest survey, the percentage of victims have fallen from 77.7 percent to 76.2 percent from one conducted in 2015, the fact is that things have not really improved all that much.
Although there have been demands to end police verification altogether, we need some sort of verification nonetheless. But it must be ensured also that ordinary citizens can avail this basic document without being forced to pay bribe to law enforcers or brokers for that matter. A possible way out of this persistent problem would be to introduce biometric data which is available with the national election commission. The linking of the various databases which would include criminal data banks and the smart ID card introduced recently would go a long way to verify the identity of persons applying for a new passport.
We should make use of the latest in technology to work for us against alleged graft which seems to have become the norm for issuing passports. Only talking about taking steps against the unholy nexus of corrupt officials and brokers has not got us anywhere but perhaps introduction of modern technology can deliver us from this entrenched form of graft that pervades the entire system.
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