Move to shift birth, death certificate services to Sewa Kendras hailed

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, September 12

The government decision to shift the services of birth and death certificates from the Municipal Corporation to Sewa Kendras have been appreciated by residents of the city.

Under the e-district sewa, applicants would now have to apply for getting birth and death certificates, along with a form and the required fee, at Sewa Kendras and they would get the same after seven days.

The MC would continue to keep the records and issue the certificates before handing over these to the Sewa Kendras. So far, 30 kendras have been opened in the border district.

Earlier, it used to be issued through the MC. There have been many complaints of tardy and time consuming process, besides anomalies. Many attempts were made to streamline the process but it did not have desired results.

A social worker, Balram Kumar Sharma, welcomed the move of the government.

He said the concept of Sewa Kendras brought positive results as it caters to a popoulatioin of certain area.

He recalled that the MC had established its branches in each of the five Assembly constituencies to deal with the increasing rush at the local birth and death registration wing last year.

Even then, higher number of applicants far outnumbering the windows and staff made the move unviable. Zonal offices in all five constituencies were to record the data regarding the birth or death certificates of residents living in their respective segments.

Sources said the main Town Hall office was receiving applications from about 6,000 to 8,000 applicants for either certificates every month.

In addition, there have been complaints about harassment being meted out to applicants by staff and even allegations of kickbacks which was to be made.

Besides, numerous cases came to the fore wherein certificates issued carried wrong addresses or were misspelt. The rectification meant further harassment.