PM Hasina to launch smart National ID cards on Oct 2

The process of providing smart citizens' identity cards, replacing the existing laminated ones will start on Oct 2 with a formal launch by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Election Commission (EC) officials have said.

EC Secretary Md Sirajul Islam told bdnews24.com on Monday that residents of Dhaka and another remote area yet to be chosen will be the first recipients of the new cards.

"The prime minister has okayed our proposal. Oct 2 is when the process will start," he said.

The formal launch would take place at an event scheduled to be held at Osmani Memorial Auditorium, he said.

He said that plans to distribute the cards to other parts of Bangladesh will be drawn up after the Oct 2 event.

The Election Commission initiative will require citizens to provide biometric details (all ten fingers and iris impression).

Camps will be held at different localities to collect the biometric samples and for distributing the new smart cards, he said.

Citizens will have to deposit their old laminated I-cards at that time, he said.

According to EC statistics, 90 million of the total 100 million voters of the country have the laminated identity cards.

The card is required for availing various facilities available to citizens.

The EC is hopeful of reaching the smart cards to all the voters of the country by December 2017 before the World Bank deadline for the exercise expires. The World Bank is funding the exercise.

The EC had signed a deal last August with a French firm to provide the smart cards to citizens.

The Economic Relations Division (ERD) sounded a wakeup call after the EC failed to initiate the project a good year and a half after the inception of the plan to distribute smart NIDs to citizens.

On Aug 2, the EC briefed the Prime Minister on the status of the project.

The prime minister emphasised creating awareness through advertisements about the range of benefits that citizens would be able to enjoy through the smart cards.

EC's NID Wing Director Sultanuzzaman Md Saleh Uddin said that all preparations to reach smart cards to citizens will be completed by September.

He added that the process in which the smart cards will be distributed or the place from where they can be procured would be announced in phases.

The smart card number can be used to avail a host of benefits like payment of income tax, issuing and renewal of passport, application for job and a host of other benefits.