Over 1,600 NICs issued in the North

by Kurulu Kariyakarawana

The Department of Registration of Persons issued over 1,600 National Identity Cards last week through a mobile clinic to issue identification documents in the Northern Province prior to the elections.

Commissioner General, Department of Registration of Persons, R.M.S. Sarath Kumara said the mobile clinic organised with the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) and Centre for Human Rights (CHR) has successfully assisted over 27,000 persons in the Northern Province.

Awareness programs are also conducted in all five districts, in line with the mobile clinics to educate the public on how to obtain vital documents such as the birth certificate, NIC and passport.Addressing an awareness program in the Nallur Divisional Secretariat in Jaffna, the Commissioner General said Government authorities should reach out to the public in conducting these duties instead of expecting the public to come to them.

Director CaFFE Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon said 1,680 NICs were issued during the first three days of the mobile campaign in the Karachchi Divisional Secretariat in Kilinochchi last week. The mobile clinic was started on Tuesday and will be held for a month except on weekends.

The mobile clinic for the Jaffna district will commence on Tuesday while the mobile clinics for the Mullaitivu, Vavuniya and Mannar Districts will commence in two weeks. An awareness program was held at the Vavuniya Divisional Secretariat yesterday by the Department of Registration of Persons (DRP), CaFFE and CHR to prepare for these mobile clinics.

Recent research has revealed that over 80,000 people do not possess any form of identification and at least 35,000 are expected to obtain NICs prior to the elections. CaFFE is facilitating logistics and services to the DRP to conduct the mobile clinics, Tennakoon said. A program is under way to determine the age of those who do not even possess a birth certificate. The assistance of District Medical Officers will be sought for this while identification documents of family members, baptism certificates and even horoscopes will be used.