KHAR: The applicants have complained about shortage of staff at the National Database and Registration Authority`s Khar swift registration centre here.

Talking to this correspondent, the applicants said the centre was without adequate staff as half of the employees, including the manager, had been absent from their duties for past couple of weeks, causing trouble to them.

I have been visiting the office for last one week to get my CNIC prepared, but found no official to get my data,` Hazrat Wali of Salarzai area said.

People also complained about delay in getting their ID cards despite submitting urgent fee. Some complainants said they didn`t receive the confirmation message of their application from the Nadra headquarters.

Atta Khan, a resident of Khar, told this correspondent that usually the applicants got text massage from the Nadra headquarters an hour after submitting their data, but the applicants who had submitted their applications some three weeks ago had yet to receive the massage.

The applicants criticised the Nadra officials for not specifying the reasons behind delay in issuance of CNICs.

Maulana Noor Mohammad, a resident of Bai Chena area, said he had been waiting for his card for last three weeks despite paying urgent fee.

The people also complained they were misbehaved by the Nadra staff, and about lack of proper seating facilities at the centre.

When contacted, an official at the swift registration centre admitted that the centre was running short of staff.

Requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to talk to media, the official admitted that manager of the centre was on sick leave. He rejected the notion that routine worl( had been suspended owing to shortage of staff at the centre.

He explained that routine business, including issuing of tokens and collecting data from the applicants, had been running smoothly, however, applicants` data had not been dispatch to the headquarters for past two weeks, as manager`s signature on each application was necessary.

To a question, the official said senior management of Nadra was aware of the situation and that they had requested a number of officials at the centre to assume the charge of manager, but no one was ready to take the responsibility following a number of employees had been sacked in the past in connection with issuing CNICs to Afghan citizens, last year.