FBD Desk:

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) has approved the Election Commission’s (EC) ‘Identification System for Enhancing Access to Services (IDEA) (Phase II)’ project to continue the National Identity Card (NID) service.

In the midst of extensive discussion and criticism, the project has also been allocated for foreign travel. Under this project, 72 government officials will travel abroad. It will cost 1 crore rupees. In addition, under the IDEA Phase II project, Tk 100 crore will be spent on sending expatriate registration team and registration of expatriate Bangladeshi nationals. 2 crore will be spent not only abroad but also for domestic travel.

Of this, Tk 554 crore has been estimated for the purchase, production, personalization and sending of smart cards at the upazila level, which is 30 per cent of the total cost. After reaching the upazila level, Tk 75 crore will be spent on distribution and management of 5 crore smart cards. In other words, the EC will spend Tk 15 on the distribution and management of each smart card at the upazila level.

Director General of the National Identity Registration Division Brigadier General Mohammad Saidul Islam was called on Wednesday (November 25th) to discuss the matter but did not answer.

The Election Commission is the entrepreneurial and implementing body of the project. The project will be implemented between July 2020 and June 2025 at a total cost of Tk 1,605.09 crore. The ECNEC approved the project on Tuesday (November 24th) without a feasibility study .

The purpose of the project is to replace, develop and maintain existing servers at the Data Center and Disaster Recovery sites with more efficient new servers. To assist the Election Commission in compiling the voter list with photographs for different types of elections. To assist the EC by issuing national identity cards to all citizens of the country by 2030. To decentralize and expand the existing national identity card identification system in providing services to government and non-government organizations. To develop and maintain the ICT infrastructure suitable for the implementation of voter registration and national identification services in the central and field level offices of the EC. To increase the capacity of the concerned officers and employees to provide people friendly national identity services.

The more the cost

Sources say that in this project, behind the salaries of 98 officers, 12 crore 35 lakh 69 thousand, house rent 6 crore 61 lakh 51 thousand, leisure entertainment allowance 41 lakh 20 thousand, festival allowance 2 crore 5 lakh 96 thousand, education allowance 57 lakh 30 thousand and New Year 20 lakh 60 thousand rupees will be spent as allowance.

Travel fare of 50 officers is 9 lakh, mobile bill of 14 officers is 12 lakh 80 thousand, residential telephone cashing allowance of 14 officers is 25 lakh 20 thousand, tiffin allowance of 50 officers is 6 lakh, clothing allowance of 75 officers is 8 lakh, defense service allowance of 75 officers 6 lakh and a half, Batman allowance of 18 people is 5 lakh, compensation allowance of 16 people is 3 lakh rupees.

Other allowances include overtime allowance of Rs 35 lakh, hospitality allowance of Rs 3 lakh, other allowances and in-aid to civil power of Rs 50 lakh, additional liability allowance of four and a half lakh, honorarium of Rs 35 lakh.

Hospitality cost 1 crore, transport services 11 people 11 crore 43 lakh, legal expenses 1 crore, 65 meetings, seminars and conferences cost 2.5 crore, utility services 2 crore, postal / courier 50 lakh, internet / fax / telex costs 1 80 million, telephone cost 50 million, publicity and advertisement cost 4 crore, 20 audio video / film production cost 1 crore, outsourcing services for 2,311 people will cost 358 crore 51 lakh 51 thousand rupees.

Vehicle Registration Renewal, Tax-Token, Fitness Rs 60 Lakh, Bank Charge Rs 50 Lakh, Management (Office Rent, Electricity Bill, Scan) Rs 175.6 Million, 5,900 Internal Training Cost Rs 4 Crore, Petrol, Well, Diesel, Lubricant Cost Rs 3 63 lakh, gas 35 lakh, stamp and seal cost 50 lakh, other beauties 1 crore, consulting services 26 crore 70 lakh, computer equipment and computer consumables 1 crore, motor vehicle repair 60 lakh, furniture maintenance 3 lakh, computer maintenance 2 crore. Maintenance of machinery and equipment 23 crore, maintenance cost of other buildings and installations 5 lakh, maintenance of motor vehicles (authorized officers) 4 crore 20 lakh, value added tax 25 crore, office equipment 1 crore 8 lakh 35 thousand.

Computer and accessories cost 36 million, furniture purchase 34.4 million, 6 database cost 183 million, information, computer and ICT equipment 55 million, machinery and equipment 378 million, computer software, miscellaneous software 327 million Non-residential buildings (rent) 2 crore and capital allocation of 2 crore will be spent under this project.

On the rationale of the project, the EC said that in 2007-08, a database was compiled by collecting demographic and biometric data of about 8.5 crore voters for the preparation of voter lists with photographs and all registered voters were given national identity cards. In addition, a database of citizen registration information is compiled with demographic and biometric information of registered voters. Although the EC was given the responsibility of activities related to national identity card through the enactment of the National Identity Registration Act 2010 in 2010, the Commission launched the National Identity Registration Division with a manpower of 61 in 2011 to carry out its assigned responsibilities.

In addition, the ‘Identification System for Enhancing Access to Services’ (IDEA) project was launched in 2011 with the help of government grants and World Bank loans to develop IT infrastructure in the National Identity Registration Division and field level offices, introduce identity verification services and provide smart national identity cards to citizens. It will end in December this year.

Under the IDEA project, data protection of registered citizens, voter list, preparation and distribution of 90 million smart national identity cards, citizen identification services, training for officers and employees etc. are being implemented. In addition, a total of four organizations, including two government and two non-government, have been targeted for identity verification services and a useful database has been set up, but at present 136 organizations are being provided full-time assistance. This is an ongoing process, the demand for this service will increase in the future.

The manpower structure of the NID wing has only 81 personnel, so it is not possible to implement nationwide outreach services with this manpower. Under the ongoing IDEA project, overall activities are being implemented with the help of about 1,453 manpower. In this context, it was decided to adopt the proposed project at a meeting of the Election Commission in November 2016 with a view to implementing the ongoing IDEA project in a more efficient and efficient manner in the future.(Source: Online)