The council of advisers yesterday approved the National Identity Registration Authority Ordinance 2008 and tasked the home ministry with providing the national identity cards.

According to the ordinance, the voter identity cards being prepared by the Election Commission would be considered as national ID cards.

The weekly meeting of the advisory council with Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed in the chair also gave their approval to the draft Bangladesh Labour Ordinance (Amendment) 2008.

According to the amended law, Chittagong and Mongla dock workers' management boards stand abolished. The amendments now allow only one trade union for the workers and employees employed by each port authority.

Earlier, the advisory council approved the two ordinances in principle.

The national identity ordinance stipulates that people who have more than one national ID cards or provide false information would be given three months' rigorous imprisonment or fined Tk 5,000.

If anybody forges the national ID cards and keeps it with them, they will be sentenced to seven years' rigorous jail along with monetary fines. Such crimes will be dealt with under the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPc).

The new labour ordinance says employees employed by the Chittagong and Mongla port authorities can form only one trade union in their respective domain. Earlier, there was scope for as many trade unions as the employees liked.