‘Cancel’ initiative to remove laminated NID in a green way

Dhaka: The Electoral Commission (NID) has taken the initiative to dispose of the laminated NIDs deposited during the issuance of high quality National Identity Cards (NIDs) or smart cards in an environmentally friendly way. In this case, you are considering converting the old NIDs to something else.

EC sources said that in the monthly coordination meeting held recently, the organization’s secretary gave instructions to the NID department. Alamgir.

According to the minutes of the meeting, a committee has been formed to dispose of paper laminated national identity cards adopted during the distribution of smart national identity cards in an environmentally friendly manner. The committee has already had discussions with various organizations.

In this case, the EC is going through a process through the i-lab of the A2I (Access to Information) project in the Prime Minister’s Office. Currently, there are plans to convert paper laminated cards into environmentally friendly materials.

Mohammad Shafiq, a communications consultant for the EC’s NID division, said 61 million smart cards have been shipped to the Upazila level so far. A total of five crore seven lakh 90 thousand cards have been distributed. In addition, work is underway to insert information into blank one crore and two lakh cards. The Electoral Commission has taken these cards, that is, 73 million cards from French companies.

It is known that 55 lakh 69 thousand 30 new voters have been added to the list after the update in 2020. In this case, the total number of voters in the country is 10 crore 96 lakh 19 thousand 112 people. As such, the Election Commission has issued smart cards to half of the country’s voters. The company has to engage in the production and distribution of the remaining three crore 95 lakh 19,111 cards.

The EC collected nearly the same number of paper laminate NIDs as distributed smart cards. In this case, the EC will have to get rid of millions of canceled NIDs.

Before the 2008 parliamentary elections, the Electoral Commission prepared a voter list with photographs. Based on that list, the EC then provided paper-laminated NIDs to nine million voters. Many of those who later became voters also received this card. EC is currently working to deliver smart cards to all citizens of the country.

Bangladesh Time: 8:25 AM, September 8, 2020
EUD / TA