PESHAWAR:The Local Government and Rural Development Department (LG&RDD) and National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the facilitation of people of the province in getting their birth certificates.
The MoU was signed for a period of 2 years to ensure that the joint services, being provided to the citizens through Village and Neighbourhood Councils continue uninterrupted. A ceremony was held in the Directorate General LG&RDD, Hayatabad Peshawar, said a hand out issued here on Sunday.
The Minister for Local Government, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sawal Nazeer presided over the ceremony. Secretary Local Government Amer Afaq, Director General Local Government Iftikhar Alam, Director General CRMS NADRA HQ Islamabad Col. Retd. Sohail Mehmood and other senior officers were present on the occasion.
The Minister for Local Government appreciated the partnership between NADRA and Local Government Department and expressed the hope that the MoU would facilitate the common citizens of the province to get easy access to birth certificates.
Both NADRA and Local Government would work together to address the remaining issues and hindrances in the smooth service delivery in death and birth registration, especially to the people of remote districts and newly merged areas he said. He said that service Fee deposit process for birth and death certificates also needs to be computerized for accountability and transparency. He also suggested to the NADRA team that the domicile-making process may also be computerized to ensure facilitation to the citizens in accordance with the relevant legal regime if possible. He also emphasized the need to revise the existing rules, particularly the provision related to the condition of requirement of court decree in certain time-barred cases as this is creating difficulty for the citizens.
The Secretary Local Government thanked the NADRA team for their hard work and suggested that the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would adopt any national or international best working model to enhance the Civil Registration and Certification process in the province. He also suggested to explore ways to integrate birth registration system with hospitals and BHUs for real time data exchange.
The Director General CRMS, NADRA HQ Islamabad, also thanked the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for its trust and confidence and expressed the hope that it will take this partnership to new heights.
He also appreciated the cooperation being extended by the LG Department to his provincial and field staff which enabled them make good progress during the last two years.