NID service closed indefinitely

The National Identity Card (NID) Department's Identification System for Enhancing Access to Services (IDEA)-2 project officials have announced an indefinite strike. The strike is going on for the two-point demand of job regularization and transfer of NID service from Ministry of Home Affairs to EC.

On Wednesday (August 21) from 8:30 am, the officers and employees of the outsourcing of the IDEA-2 project of the Election Commission started this sit-in program in front of the election building of Agargaon. The Election Commission has stopped the NID service.

It is known that this program is being celebrated not only in the election building of Dhaka, but in all the election offices across the country. Apart from this, the program will continue until all the officers and employees from Grade 9 to Grade 20 of the Idea-2 Project under the Secretariat of the Election Commission do not collect their demands at the main gate of the Election Commission.

The agitators have also announced that this service will be closed until the demands are met. Currently 2 thousand 260 officers and employees are working in IDEA-2 project. They are the ones who do the work of NID at the field level. Many of them are almost halfway through their careers.

Incidentally, the government recently enacted a separate law to bring the NID department under the Home Ministry's Security Services Department from the EC. But it says it will remain under the EC until the government takes action by notification. Civil society representatives, experts and former election commissioners were in favor of keeping the NID under the EC when the government made the law. They argued that since NID is provided on the basis of voter list, it is safe to have this process under EC. Besides, EC has a century and a half of expertise, infrastructure for this activity. If it is taken under another department, new manpower and infrastructure will have to be developed. It will increase the cost of the state and the suffering of the citizens.

Bangladesh /KH