LAHORE Punjab Home Department and National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) officials are issuing arms license only to influential applicants at the only functional centre at the District Coordination Office (DCO) in Lahore, alleged various people on Monday while talking to The News. Nadra claims arm licence issuing centres at Swami Nagar, Joreywala Pull, Raiwind, Samanabad are also working to facilitate people, but applicants say almost all of them are not operational fully yet. Visitors at DCO office told this reporter they visited other centres in Raiwind and Swami Nagar and were advised by the Nadra officials there to visit the DCO office for getting computerised licences of their arms. The Punjab government had set February 28 deadline for renewal of arms licences from Nadra, but sensing the workload on the Authority extended the date till April 28. Around 30 tokens are issued a day by Nadra at Raiwind centre and that too to influential persons only and other are advised to visit DCO office Lahore for the purpose, one Mehboob, who visited Raiwind office before coming to Lahore told The News on February 25. Others said they had been standing in a queue since 6’o clock but could not reach the officials concerned as phone calls and references were doing the trick. They alleged that many influential people were facilitated whose (token) number was 80 or more, but those having token number 20 or so were still waiting for their turn. One Zafar alleged that lower staffers of DCO and Nadra were charging Rs400-500 for temporary slip (katcha token) before getting the original token. “I had to pay Rs400 for getting my temporary slip,” he claimed. One Rana Khalilur Rehman of Sheikhupura also told this correspondent that he had been visiting the office for the past three days but could not get even a token for entry. Taufeeq Anjum of Gujranwala, Noor Ahmed Cheema of Narowal and Saeed Ahmed of Sargodha also related such stories about inefficiency of the Nadra staff and discrimination in favour of VIPs. Deputy Assistant Director (DAD) and In-charge of DCO’s Nadra office Agha Ali Raza, however, rejected all allegations saying no one from their departments was involved in any kind of bribery. However, the DAD admitted that around 15 to 20 government officers including civil servants and judges, etc., were being facilitated with protocol each day at the DCO office. He clarified that they do come after getting a specific time and date in advance. Around 130 to 140 common applicants are being facilitated every day, he added. On February 27, a Nadra spokesman claimed that there was no VIP handling at any centre. All applicants are bound to appear in person at the registration centre to get their applications processed, along with the retainer (if any). Nadra spokesman told The News several value-added features have been provided along with interactive registration of the applicants. Cash handling at the registration sites have been eliminated and all charges (processing and government fees) will be paid directly through the electronic banking channel (UBL OMNI). He said the interaction of the applicant and the DCO has also been eliminated. The spokesman said Nadra formally launched the 3-year Punjab Arms Licence Project on January 26, 2015 and is contractually obligated to provide its services till January 26, 2018 after which the contract will be re-evaluated by both parties. According to the spokesman, the project has been conceived through the strategic cooperation between the Home Department, Government of Punjab, and Nadra. An interactive approach has been formulated to efficiently and effectively launch the project in all 36 districts of the province of Punjab. Nadra initiated operations from 2 designated Punjab arms licence sites which were developed in the vicinity of the DCO office in Lahore and Faisalabad. Currently Nadra has made operational five additional designated Punjab arms licence sites. Alongside the seven designated PAL sites, Nadra has also utilised over 180 NRC’s to diversify the applicant load.
