All the activities relating to National Identity (NID) cards will be provided to the Ministry of Home Affairs within the next two months.
Liberation War Affairs Minister AK Mozammel Huque announced it after attending a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Law and Order at the Home Ministry on Wednesday.
The minister presided over the meeting.
"Now, NID-related service delivery will start from the Home Ministry. NID cards must be issued within 30 days of submitting applications. Or else, they will have to submit explanations. People suffered a lot," he said.
The minister said the Election Commission's responsibilities are preparing voter lists and holding elections. EC doesn't make NID cards in any country of the world.
On May 30, Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda said the NID card-related services should remain under the Election Commission.
"We think that the NID-related services should remain under the Election Commission, because the EC created it on the basis of voter lists. The NID cards came as by-product of the voter list in the country," he told reporters at the Nirbachan Commission Bhaban in Dhaka.
The CEC also said there was no discussion with the EC earlier over shifting the NID services to the Security Services Division of the Home Ministry. A few days ago, the EC just received a letter over it. Then it was discussed as the Commission's meeting," he said.
Mozammel Huque said the Hefazat issue, protests at Rohingya camps, bringing Amazon and Google under tax net, LSD drug, among others, came up for discussion at the meeting.
Referring to the LSD drug, he said 15 groups are involved in LSD trading in the country. Of these, two groups have been brought to book. The rest will also be nabbed.
Regarding the raw hides of sacrificial animals during the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha, he said raw hides of sacrificial animals would be fixed. Besides, law enforcers would be asked to strengthen control at borders so that hides couldn't be smuggled out of the country.
