Pattaya halts national ID card issuance due to card shortage

Pattaya City Registration Office has been forced to slam the brakes on issuing national ID cards to Thai citizens due to a shortage of blank cards.

Bunchaya Charoenphot, the astute Manager of the Registration and ID Card Operations Office, revealed that the scarcity of cards from the Provincial Registration Center in Chon Buri province has thrown a wrench into their usual operations.

Commencing today, the office will grind to a halt in ID card operations until further notice, leaving citizens in a state of limbo. Despite this setback, other ID card-related services such as applications, certifications, and transactions will continue uninterrupted during the suspension period.

Bunchaya lamented the dire situation, highlighting how the equipment shortage has severely hampered the office’s capacity to cater adequately to the public’s needs. Previously capable of processing up to 200 ID card applications daily, the office’s output has been slashed by half due to the shortage, now accommodating a mere 100 applications per day.

However, there’s a glimmer of hope for those facing urgent ID-related issues such as expired, lost, or damaged cards, or those in need of name or address changes. The office will still attend to these cases temporarily, reported Pattaya Mail.

Desperate citizens are urged to seek further information from the Pattaya City Registration Office during office hours by dialling 038-253133-35 or through the Pattaya Contact Center at 1337.

In related news, the Thai government has begun issuing smart ID cards to over 100,000 Buddhist monks across the nation, revealed Puangpet Chunlaiad, a minister in the Prime Minister’s Office. These ID cards contain crucial details about each monk’s history and are linked to the country’s citizenship database managed by the Interior Ministry.

This initiative is part of the government’s efforts to enhance the traceability of monks, in response to Police Lieutenant General Sanit Mahathaworn’s concerns. As the chairman of the Senate Committee on Religious Affairs, he had flagged the increasing issue of unruly monks in parliament.