PESHAWAR : The Directorate General of Local Government and Rural Development Department, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra).
The ceremony was presided over by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Caretaker Minister for Local Government, Sawal Nazir. Among the distinguished attendees were Secretary Local Government, Amer Afaq, Director General Local Government, Iftikhar Alam, Director General CRMS Nadra HQ Islamabad, Col (r) Sohail Mehmood, and other officers.
During the event, Minister Sawal Nazir expressed his appreciation for the partnership between Nadra and the Local Government Department. He emphasized that the MoU aimed to facilitate the citizens of the province in obtaining easy access to birth certificates.
Both departments pledged to collaborate closely to address any remaining issues and obstacles in the seamless service delivery of birth and death registration, particularly in remote districts and newly merged areas.
Minister Sawal Nazir further stressed the need for computerizing the service fee deposit process for birth and death certificates to ensure accountability and transparency. He also suggested that the domicile-making process be computerized to provide citizens with greater facilitation in accordance with relevant legal regulations, if feasible. Additionally, he highlighted the importance of revising existing rules, particularly the provision related to the requirement of a court decree in certain time-barred cases, as it is currently creating difficulties for people.
The Secretary of the Local Government, Amer Afaq, extended gratitude to the Nadra team for their hard work and offered the government’s willingness to explore and adopt any national or international best working models to enhance the civil registration and certification process in the province. He also proposed the exploration of ways to integrate birth registration systems with hospitals and Basic Health Units (BHUs) for real-time data exchange.
The signing of the MoU signifies a step forward in facilitating citizens’ access to essential services and aims to streamline the civil registration and certification process in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.