Barisal v Barishal: Spelling it right will cost you

The name Barisal was coined by the British in 1876 and continues to be used officially by the government and people at large. With the introduction of the smart National Identity (NID) card, however, things began to change. Much to their confusion, people were being handed out their NIDs which listed their birthplace as “Barishal”, with an added “h”. Election Commission officials say that this error occurred on only a few NIDs and the matter could be easily rectified by the cardholders: They simply have to pay a small fee to the commission in order to be issued new cards. “If anyone thinks this will cause any problems for them, they can apply to the Election Commission and the error will be fixed for a fee of Tk230,” explained Sadar Upazila Election Commissioner Abdul Hie Al Hadi. Barisal Regional Election Officer Abdul Halim Khan said: “We are going to finish distributing some 2.17 lakh smart cards by July 12. We too spotted the error in the spelling of Barisal. This mistake was made while the cards were being printed in Dhaka. “We have spoken with the authorities concerned about finding a solution. The smart card holders will not have to face any dilemma for this.” However, this mistake does have many people worried. “The government webpage says it is spelled Barisal. The same spelling is used by the Education Board and all other places. Then why does the smart card read Barishal?” questioned Anaetur Rahman, one of the people whose NID had the misspelling. “Though this mistake may not create any problem within the country, but it may do so when applying for visas. What is they refuse to give us visas because the spelling does not match that on the other papers?” he said apprehensively. What seems to be bothering people the most about the spelling error, however, is that they are being asked to pay to fix a mistake made by the Election Commission. People are now demanding that the Election Commission re-think their decision to continue distributing NIDs where Barisal may have been spelt wrong.