Long waiting period for birth and death certificates frustrate citizens

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

Citizens applying for birth and death certificates at all municipal corporation zone offices are being told bluntly to ‘come back after two months.’ Even after waiting for that period, many are not receiving their certificates on time. In most cases, people have to visit the office four to five times before finally getting the document. The big question remains, why are citizens being kept waiting for months?

For children born in government or private hospitals in the city, the birth certificate must be obtained from the respective zonal office. Parents bring hospital documents and submit an application at the office. When they ask about the delivery time, staff casually reply that it will take ‘two to three months.’

About a year ago, the municipal corporation administrator G Sreekanth had announced an online facility for birth and death certificates to reduce crowding at zonal offices. However, the initiative has completely failed. No applications are being accepted online; citizens are forced to visit the office in person to apply. Adding to the frustration, many certificates contain spelling errors, forcing applicants to make repeated visits for corrections.

A similar ordeal is faced by those applying for death certificates. Without this document, families cannot complete various government formalities. Here too, the ‘waiting period’ extends to two or three months. If the death has taken place at home, municipal employees are supposed to visit the house, conduct a survey, and submit a report to senior officials before the certificate is issued. While this process is technically proper, the employees often fail to visit on time, causing significant delays.

150 to 200 pending applications per zone

A review of Zones 1 to 10 revealed that each municipal zone office currently has a backlog of at least 150 to 200 pending applications for birth and death certificates. Employees say that frequent server slowdowns and a high number of daily applications are the main reasons for delays and growing waiting lists.

Certificates should be issued within 30 days

“As per rules, certificates should be issued within 30 days of application. If the gap is more than 30 days, the case is referred to the tehsildar. Some applicants fail to provide property tax or water bill receipts, which causes technical delays. There is no official two to three-month waiting period,” said Ashok Giri, the CSMC’s zone officer.