Eyebrows raised on issuance of B&D certificates by sanitary staff

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

A shocking revelation has come to light in the 10 zone offices of the municipal corporation, sanitation workers have been assigned the task of issuing birth and death certificates. Last week, in the Zone 9 office, two sanitation workers were caught red-handed by the anti-corruption bureau (ACB) while accepting a bribe of ₹3,000. This has raised a serious question – who authorized the appointment of sanitation workers for such an important task?

Although the municipal corporation has made the facility of obtaining birth and death certificates available online, most citizens still prefer to visit the zone offices directly. Huge piles of pending applications are lying in each office. Applicants are generally told to “come back after two months.” When they return after two months, their applications are often “not found.” If someone needs a certificate urgently within 4–8 days, the sanitation workers negotiate directly with the applicant. In Zone 9, a bribe of ₹3,000 was demanded for a birth certificate. The applicant immediately complained to the ACB, which then trapped the workers.

In reality, the process of issuing birth and death certificates falls under the jurisdiction of zone officers. They also decide which staff members should be assigned to the desk. However, in almost all zone offices, Class IV staff and sanitation workers have been assigned to this work, and reports suggest that they have been handling it for years.

Not found during inspection

Two days ago, I conducted a surprise inspection of five zone offices. Nowhere did I find sanitation workers handling birth/death certificate work. At every location, junior clerks and other staff were present. How exactly this incident occurred in Zone 9 is not known, said the municipal officer of health (MoH) at CSMC Dr Paras Mandlecha.