THE readers may recall that several years ago, the government of the time had shut down all area offices of the National Database Registration Authority (Nadra) and established a handful of mega centres in Karachi. The public since then has no option but to go to these so-called mega centres and stand in long queues just to enter them, for they are utterly unable to cater to the massive numbers.

Nadra is now believed to have revisited the issue, and is seeking rental office space for establishing six registration centres across Karachi. While the development may facilitate the process, the big question remains: who was responsible for the earlier decision which forced Nadra to spend millions of rupees on establishing the mega centres only to now reopen the closed regional/small area offices?

One fails to understand why government departments do not conduct proper feasibility assessments before launching any project.

Decisions taken by one government are often, if not always, reversed by some other government, causing a loss of millions and billions of rupees to the national exchequer. All this happens in the name of either development or provision of better facilities to the teeming masses.

Khawaja Tajammul Hussain
Karachi

Published in Dawn, April 14th, 2025