Deputy Chairman National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), Tariq Malik has called upon Watan Card holders not to sell their cards, as the government will give subsequent instalments of announced assistance on the card.
"Flood victims who lost or sold their cards by mistake should contact the relevant banks to block the cards and get new cards as replacement by showing their computerised national identity card (CNIC)," Malik said while talking to media here on Thursday. So far the government has disbursed over Rs 20 billion as first instalment of Rs 20,000 to more than 1.15 million flood victim families through 100 distribution centres set up by Nadra and about ten million affected people were benefited.
"It's your card; you own it and you are entitled for the replacement, if you have sold this to some people who can go to bank to block it and get new one", Nadra Deputy Chairman said.
Malik warned culprits not to exploit the vulnerability of flood victims with meagre offers against their cards as severe actions will be taken against them. It is an identity fraud and such culprit will be handed over to law enforcement agencies, he added.
By paying cash assistance to over 20 million affected people through Watan Card, this program has become the world's largest cash assistance program as an aftermath of disaster, Tariq Malik said. He said the verification process prior to issuing Watan Card has reduced the risk of fraud and saved a lot of money for the government to channel to other development sectors. It is possible with the use of world biggest multi-biometrics citizen database of Pakistan housing comprising 93 per cent of adult population of Pakistan, he added.
He said that there is only one complaint so far against some miscreants involved in pushing the vulnerable flood victims to sell their Watan Cards with pin codes.
Highlighting the role of provincial governments in Watan Card, Nadra deputy chief said that the provincial governments were responsible to identify the right person for Watan Card, besides notifying the disaster hit areas. It was also responsibility of provincial governments to maintain law and order in and around the Nadra centres, he added.
Nadra has deployed Watan Card strategy of cash assistance after it was approved by Council of Common Interests (CCI) meeting with the agreement of all four provinces, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir, he said, adding that Nadra team was working with determination to serve the applicants of Watan Cards in all four provinces including Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir.
Nadra with its biometrics technology ensures that the beneficiary is the same person claiming to be resident of the areas notified as "flood hit area" under Calamity Act by provincial government, he said.
Its strategy is based on Evidence of Identity methodology, which is a new phenomenon and being observed by international aid agencies closely. The process of cash distribution demands accurate identification of the beneficiaries as if in the on-going financial assistance programme of the government, Tariq Malik said.
He said that the EOI processes with its sophisticated biometrics verification component establish exactly the identity of the aids beneficiary such as Watan Card holder; whether his/ her is living to the presenter links' identity and with the account. Further, the presenter uses the identity in a way that cash transactions are linked with it. "Cash assistance or disbursement comes with responsibility and accountability. You can't drop cash from the helicopter", Malik said.
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