Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on Wednesday claimed that shifting the National Identity (NID) card preparation work from the Election Commission to the Home Ministry was appropriate.
He made this remarks while talking to the journalists after distributing the Bangabandhu scholarships among the children of jail inmates at the Department of Prisons in the capital Dhaka.
He said any controversy in this regard is totally undesirable.
He further said taking opinion from all, they have placed the NID-related services under the Home Ministry. They have also taken advice from experts in this respect.
At present, NID-related services are being provided under the EC, which has developed the NID database containing information about 10 crore citizens who are aged above 18.
The NID services include issuing secure national identity cards to citizens, administering all related activities, including maintaining a national citizen registration database and delivering identity verification services to qualified public and private organisations.
A full-fledged NID wing was established following the passage of the National Identity Registration Act 2010. Bangladesh launched NID cards with photographs in 2007-2008, as part of updating the voter list.
At a separate programme in the city, Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda said if the NID-related services are shifted from the Election Commission, it will be difficult to conduct elections.
The CEC said decision to hand over the NID-related services to the government has not been finalised yet.
It's not something like chair and table that we can move it. We need to hold talks on this issue, he added.
He said that the NID services were created for the sake of voting only.
