The Directorate General of Immigration and Passports (DGIP) has passed the blame of delay in passport issuance and heavy backlog on National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), saying that the disruption in online verification system of Nadra is the main cause of delay in issuance of passports.
The Nadra's online verification system is remaining out of the order for two to three days a week, which has resulted in huge backlog of passports and people coming for passports are facing hardships, said a statement issued by DGIP on Saturday. At present the DGIP is facing a backlog of over 300,000 passports and it will take long time to clear the backlog, sources in the DGIP said. Business Recorder tried to contact the Director General Immigration and Passports, Wajid Ali Bokhari on his cell phone, but there was no response and even the SMS were not responded.
When Deputy Chairman Nadra Tariq Malik was contacted to know the reason of disruption in the online verification system of Nadra, he expressed dismay over the statement, saying that DGIP is not the only institution using the Nadra verification system and no other institution has complained about any inconvenience then how DGIP could claim so.
"NADRA is giving online verification service to banks, cellular phone companies and many other institutions and they have not complained about any hindrance in the system," Malik said, adding that the DGIP is facing terrible equipment shortfall, which is the main cause of the backlog.
It is pertinent to note that Wajid Bokhari, Director General Immigration and Passports revealed to this scribe on March 15 that DGIP was facing problems due to lack of proper equipment, which was main reason of delay in issuance of passports to people.
He said that in spite of financial constraints the organisations has worked hard to meet the challenges of replacing the old passports with Machine Readable Passports (MRPs) He had also demanded Nadra like autonomous status for DGIP, saying that DGIP is earning about Rs 10 billion per annum for national exchequer and is getting very less (4.5 per cent of the earned amount) in return as budget for the organisation.