Lokmat News Network
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
Complaints have surfaced that citizens are facing serious inconvenience in obtaining birth and death certificates from the municipal corporation’s zonal offices. Adding to this, a contractual employee from Zone 6 was recently caught accepting a bribe of Rs 500 along with a photocopy shop operator. This incident once again exposed corruption within these offices. On Monday, administrator G. Sreekanth summoned officials from Zones 2, 5, and 9 to question them regarding these complaints.
At almost all zonal offices, citizens are told that it will take at least two months to issue a birth or death certificate. Routine certificates are deliberately delayed. Currently, each zonal office has a backlog of 150 to 200 pending applications. In reality, around 50 certificates can be easily processed daily on the online server.
In some ward offices, a “separate arrangement” exists for those who need certificates urgently. Last week, in Zone 6, a contractual employee demanded Rs 1,000 to provide a copy of a cremation receipt. A compromise was struck at Rs 500, and the ACB caught both individuals red-handed. Following this incident, the administrator also received complaints on Monday regarding delays in issuing birth and death certificates. Consequently, he summoned officers from Zones 2, 5, and 9.
Contractual staff in Zone 5
In Zone 5, contractual employees Rahul Gaisamundre and Laxman Khillare were found doing this work on Monday morning. The administration has already ordered that contractual staff should not be appointed for such tasks. So why is there so much favour being shown to contractual workers by the officers?
Photocopy shop also unauthorized
Within the premises of Zones 5 and 6 of the municipal corporation, there is an illegally operating photocopy shop. The operator of this same shop was caught while collecting the bribe. The Property Department has confirmed that the shop is unauthorized. The question now is: Which officer is providing protection to this illegal establishment?
Photo captions:
1. In Zone 5, contractual staff were seen performing this work on Monday.
2. The unauthorized photocopy shop in the Zone 5 and 6 campus remains unchanged.