Kathmandu, August 9
Lawmakers from the opposition party have asked the government to stop handing out national ID cards.
Nepali Congress lawmakers Dilendra Prasad Badu, Ashok Kumar Singh, and Devendra Raj Kadel asked Parliament’s State Affairs and Good Governance Committee to direct the government to stop handing out ID cards to the people for the time being.
Speaking at a meeting of the committee, NC lawmaker Kadel stated that the government should not hand out ID cards before the national ID bill was approved by Parliament.
He further stated that the contract for printing the ID cards was awarded without following the Public Procurement Act. He asked the government to explain why it handed out the contract without following rules and regulations as stated in the act. All three lawmakers blamed the Home Ministry for ‘acting like children’.
“How can you start distributing the ID cards while we are still discussing its bill? It seems they haven’t even followed due procedure. This is wrong. Who is answerable for this mistake,” questioned lawmaker Singh.
