Iftikhar Khan
PESHAWAR: It has been emerged that four field-offices of National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) in merged tribal districts are being run through the operators instead of gazetted officers due to which citizens suffer a lot.
It is a routine practice that Grade-16 or Grade-17 officers run the affairs of Nadra registration centres who work as manager or assistant director, respectively. However, the Nadra offices in Parachinar and Sadda in Kurram district and Kalaya in Orakzai district have been left at the mercy of Grade-14 deputy superintendents. But the story doesn’t end here as there is a Nadra centre in Ghaljo in Orakzai which is being run under a Grade-12 executive. The Ghaljo centre is working in Hangu since 2009 for Orakzai when it was affected by militancy.
An in-charge of a Nadra office at one of the centres said while talking to TNN that they face many difficulties due to unavailability of proper well-trained gazetted officers. He said that in principle a manager or assistant director must be the immediate boss in a Nadra registration centre. He said in most offices in tribal districts, this additional burden has been put on deputy superintendents and executives which is affecting their own performance.
A deputy superintendent, who wished anonymity, told TNN that it is impossible for him to resolve the problems of staff and visitors being an in-charge. The deputy superintendent admitted that he did not have the capacity to deal with additional burden of looking after the administrative and public dealing affairs simultaneously. He said he also faces difficulties in contacting and discussing problems on daily basis with zonal and divisional officers.
Social circles in the tribal districts said that law and order has improved in merged districts and now Nadra officers have no excuse of security issues or lack of facilities inside the erstwhile tribal region.
Muhammad Nawaz Orakzai, a social activist from Orakzai, said the people of merged districts were hoping for improved facilities and resolution of problems after merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. However, he said, his wish remains unfulfilled at least for now. He said non-provision of gazetted offices in Nadra shows that tribal districts are still considered backward areas. The four Nadra offices in tribal districts are without senior officers for the last two and a half years.