EC asks govt not to make NID must for now

The Election Commission has urged different government departments not to make national identity card (NID) mandatory right now for access to services.
The commission made the request yesterday at a meeting with senior officials of ministries, divisions and departments on grounds that many people are yet to get NIDs.
The EC in January last year issued a circular urging ministries and divisions not to make mandatory for people to show copies of NID cards for access to any service.
"But some departments, without any consultation with us, have already made it mandatory for people to show or submit copies of NID cards for access to their services. It led to a rise in the tendency for preparing fake NID cards," Chief Election Commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda told government officials.
He alleged that people are being harassed for failing to produce copies of NID cards to get services.
According to the EC, many banks have made submission of copies of NIDs mandatory for opening bank accounts. It is also a prerequisite for buying SIM cards of mobile phones.
Different departments including the Passport Directorate and Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) have asked people to submit copies of NID card s with applications to get their services.
The EC has already prepared a database of about 8.50 crore voters and it can be used in 25 sectors, said, CEC Huda, flanked by election commissioners Muhammed Sohul Hussein and Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hossain.
He said the database is useful for identifying people and would help prevent criminal activities and forgery in many areas such as opening of bank accounts or purchase of lands.
The commission has so far produced nearly 8.50 crore cards. It started giving out the cards while preparing the voter list with photographs in 2007.
The national identity registration act 2009 empowers the EC to prepare and issue national identity cards to the citizens.
According to the law, usage of NID cards can be made mandatory after issuing NID cards to all people eligible for registration as voters.
The CEC said the EC plans to issue NID for people who are under 18 years old.
Election Commissioner Sakhawat Hossain told The Daily Star after the meeting that they asked the government offices not to make the use of NID cards mandatory since it is not possible now to verify the cards online.
He said an organisation can make the use of NID cards optional but it has to check the authenticity of the cards manually.
The commissioner said they are working on a mechanism for online verification of NID cards by May or June next year. He said server stations would be set up across the country by that time.
Senior officials of education and health ministries, army, police, intelligence agency, Department of Passport and Immigration and Bangladesh Bank were present at the meeting at a city hotel.