Ordinary citizens are bearing the brunt of alleged irregularities and corruption by field-level officials, as changes to National Identity (NID) correction process have made even minor amendments to dates of birth increasingly difficult.
Following complaints of malpractice surrounding age corrections, the authority to amend dates of birth has now been centralised solely under the director general of the National Identity Registration Wing.
As a result, citizens from across the country are being forced to travel to the capital, Dhaka, even for minor corrections. This has led to increased costs, wasted time, and significant hardship.
Public frustration is mounting, with many questioning why the process has been made more complex instead of holding those responsible for wrongdoing to account.
Ritu Akter, from Brahmanbaria, is among those affected. A discrepancy of just two months in her date of birth has led to prolonged suffering. Despite visiting the Election Commission, she has yet to find a resolution and continues to move from one office to another.
“I have been trying to correct my NID for a long time. It is only a two-month difference in my age. I had to come from Brahmanbaria. At first, I went to the local office for several days, but later I was told to come to Dhaka. Now I am going from one department to another,” she said.
A similar situation has affected Ashik Pramanik, a man in his sixties, who travelled from Manikganj to Dhaka with his grandson. He is attempting to correct the date of birth on his son’s NID. His son, Rubel Pramanik, works in Malaysia, and failure to correct the record in time could jeopardise his visa extension.
“I have been coming to the Election Commission for one and a half months. My son’s visa will expire in 10 days. If the correction is not made, he will have to return home. Our entire family depends on his income,” he said.
University student Ariful Islam is also facing complications. Although his actual birth year is 2004, his NID lists it as 2008, creating inconsistencies in his academic records. He too has had to travel from Bancharampur in Brahmanbaria to Dhaka to seek correction.
Election Commission officials say the difficulties stem from recent regulatory changes.
Previously, field-level officials had the authority to correct dates of birth within certain limits: up to three years by upazila election officers, five years by additional district election officers, seven years by senior district election officers, eight years by additional regional election officers, and up to ten years by regional election officers.
This allowed most applications to be resolved locally and efficiently.
Under the new rules, however, this authority has been withdrawn and centralised under the director general, significantly slowing down the process and increasing the burden on applicants.
Officials say the change was prompted by allegations of bribery and harassment in the correction process at the field level. Instead of taking action against those accused of misconduct, the system itself has been overhauled, leading to greater complications and the likelihood of further difficulties.
Explaining the decision, ASM Humayun Kabir, who served as director general of the National Identity Registration Wing until 13 April, said, “There were allegations of financial transactions at the field level regarding date of birth corrections.
Such complaints were being received by the secretary almost daily. To prevent irregularities, the decision was taken at the secretariat level.”
He added that although there may be initial inconvenience, the situation would gradually improve and citizens would no longer need to pay bribes for NID corrections.
Election Commissioner Abdur Rahmanel Masud said the previous system had encouraged a higher number of applications due to flexibility in corrections. “Now that verification is centralised, this tendency will decrease. Irregularities will also be reduced. However, steps will be taken as necessary to ease public suffering,” he said.
