Govt welcomes Indian ID team

A TEAM of experts from the unique identification authority of India is in the country to look at the possibility of producing identification cards for Papua New Guineans.
Chief  Secretary Manasupe Zurenuoc officially welcomed the Indian delegation on Monday while opening a three-day special meeting of selected government agencies.
The delegation included deputy director-general BB Nanawati and assistant director-general Anup Kumar.
They are here at the invitation of the government.
Zurenuoc said the team’s visit was to inform the government about the benefits of having such a system and how it could be introduced in the country.
“Having such a system in place will greatly assist in the eradication of ghost names on the common roll,” he said.
“The NEC on Jan 12 rescinded all previous programmes of identification cards and decided to seek assistance from the UIA to look at this card system, which is in place in India and to see how best we can work with them to set up a similar system for PNG,” Zurenuoc said.
He said the government further directed that contact be established with the Indian Embassy in PNG to facilitate this project.
Representatives from the PNG Defence Force, the National Intelligence Organisation and the social sector met with the group to deal with specific issues before they present a proposal to the government on the implementation of the identification system.