Brokers meddle in citizenship distribution in Parsa

By Our Correspondent,Parsa, July 9: People seeking service especially citizenship certificate from the District Administration Office in Parsa have been facing troubles if they try to avail of the service on their own but those who come through the middlemen get prompt and easy service. 

People reach the office to obtain citizenship by decent for their children according to the new Citizenship Act, 2023, have experienced growing activity of middlemen. 

As the list of those who take the citizenship on the basis of ‘birth’ is increasing, the office has implemented an online token system for the service-seekers to make the registration process organised and transparent. 

But if one followed the token system, it takes up to two months to get the citizenship certificate. 

So, most of the service-seekers are taking help from the middlemen to get the certificate in a day or two. Meanwhile, people who have better access to the officials of the DAO are also getting their certificates in time. 

According to the source, the middlemen are charging as much as Rs. 25,000 to make the office issue citizenship certificate in a day or two. Service-seekers blamed that the amount taken by the middleman is shared among the employees of the office as well.

A service-seeker with surname ‘Agrawal’ said that since his sons are studying in Bangalore and Kolkata, India, and have come home to make citizenship certificate, it was not possible to wait for weeks or months. “So, we obtained the citizenship in one day through a middleman because it would cost us more money to make multiple trips from the cities in India,” he said. 

Similarly, a businessman with Gupta surname says that he got citizenship on the very first day the DAO in Parsa started issuing the certificates by paying Rs. 10,000. 

Binod Kumar Keshari, who had reached the office to get the certificate, was asked to wait for a month to obtain it. He is waiting. 

Most of the children of those who took citizenship by birth from Parsa DAO are studying or doing business in different parts of India and some of them are living in Kathmandu. Since it would cost them a significant amount of money to make round trips to home district to get citizenship certificate, they prefer to bribe the officials through the middlemen in order to get the service in advance. 

The DAO has a unit to immediately give citizenship to the pregnant, disabled, sick, and those who go outside the country for urgent work. Some employees of the office and middlemen have misused the provision and have been issuing certificates by charging illegal fees that goes into their pockets. 

A team of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA)’s Hetaunda office has increased the vigilance for a few days after they noticed the growing activity of middlemen but they have not been able to check the malpractice and punish those who are involved in it. 

Chief District Officer Hiralal Regmi refuted the allegations that the office has issued citizenship certificates by accepting bribes from the service seekers. He said that it is natural for the CIAA to monitor crowded places, but even though the authority’s team has come in this regard, citizenship distribution is being done procedurally and there is no financial irregularity on the part of the office.