National ID issuance begins from two locations in Jajarkot

By Bashudev Sharma,Jajarkot, (Khalanga), Oct. 17: The process of issuing National Identity Cards in Jajarkot district has become more convenient after the District Administration Office (DAO) started operating from two separate locations.

Following the mandatory requirement for senior citizens to obtain a National Identity Card in order to receive social security allowances, the DAO had been facing heavy public pressure for several months. To ease the growing crowd and ensure efficient service delivery, the office expanded its operations to two locations for online data entry.

According to Chief District Officer (CDO) Raju Prasad Paudel, the dual-centre system was introduced to provide faster service to citizens. With people coming from all seven local levels of the district, the workload had become overwhelming. “To make service delivery effective, we began operations from two points a month ago, and it has since become much smoother,” Paudel said.

He said that while the Area Administration Office handles the process offline, the District Administration Office now conducts online entries from two different points. The expansion was made with consideration of the difficulties faced by service seekers. Previously, applicants had to fill out and pay for online forms outside the office, but now the DAO offers the service free of cost.

Because of the lack of a chief at the Chankheli Area Administration Office for the past four months, citizenship certificates are currently being issued directly from the district office. Although offline forms for the National Identity Card are filled out at Chankheli, online entries are still done at the main district office. The DAO has already requested the Ministry of Home Affairs to fill the vacant post, according to Paudel.

DAO’s Information Officer Samir Gautam said that over 40,000 individuals have filled out online forms so far, and 12,200 National Identity Cards have been received for distribution in the district. 

Between May and October, the office processed about 60 to 70 online forms per day, with staff working from 8:00 am to 7:00 pm. 

Currently, because of the Dashain–Tihar festive period, the number of daily applicants has decreased to around 40–50, but it is expected to rise again after Tihar. Gautam said that service delivery has become much easier since the work began from two points.