Dear Sir,
The recent decision to increase fees for correcting National Identity Cards (NID) has emerged as a double blow to the common people. There are serious questions regarding the logic of this decision because the vast majority of errors in NIDs are not created by the citizens. In most cases, despite providing correct information and documents, citizens end up with serious mistakes in their names, birth dates, or addresses solely due to the negligence and carelessness of data entry operators or government employees.
Why should the general public pay out of their own pockets for mistakes made by the state's service providers? This is not only illogical but also contrary to justice. Under the current system, a victimized citizen already suffers immensely by running from door to door at government offices to fix these errors. Imposing extra fees essentially institutionalizes this harassment.
To ensure true good governance, we must move away from this "fee-hiking culture" and establish a "culture of accountability." If it is proven that an error occurred due to official negligence, the correction should be free for the citizen. Instead, the employee responsible for the error should be penalized. This would ensure caution and responsibility in their work. The farce of "they make mistakes, and the people pay the fine" must end immediately.
Ibrahim Khalil (Shobuj)
Student, Faculty of Law and Land Administration,
Patuakhali Science and Technology University
