Over 5,000 birth and death certificate applications pending at Nagpur civic body; section runs round the clock
The Nagpur Municipal Corporation's birth and death registration section now works in three shifts as pending applications rise, with a single CRS portal login slowing approvals.
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The birth and death section of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation is now running "24x7", around the clock. The number of pending applications had been rising steadily, and Municipal Commissioner Dr Vipin Itankar directed that the pace of work be stepped up.
Following this, Dr Govardhan Navghare, who looks after the section, immediately planned and formed three shifts of staff. Three employees have been assigned to each shift, and each shift is eight hours long.
Four employees are normally needed to complete the process for one certificate, but for now the work is being managed with three. On Sundays only one team works, and the other two teams are given rest.
About 100 applications for birth and death certificates are coming in every day, while only 40 are being disposed of. As a result, the number of pending applications has reached 5,000. People are having to wait 15 to 20 days for the new barcoded certificate.
According to Dr Navghare, the process for applications for birth and death certificates after 2016 is running relatively well. The real challenge is finding records from before 2016. Records up to 120 years old have to be searched to issue certificates.
Relatives of people born or deceased long ago also need certificates for various government and private purposes. Finding and verifying old records is therefore taking staff considerable time.
To bring transparency to the slow registration process and curb fake certificates, the Central government has introduced the Central Registration System (CRS) portal. The system has become a problem for the corporation. Earlier, five logins were available in the birth and death section for processing certificates.
The new system currently has only one login, which has slowed the work. On top of that, an OTP sent to the mobile phone of the District Health Officer is required to approve each certificate. Receiving the OTP and completing the subsequent steps takes about 10 to 15 minutes. As a result, it is difficult to dispose of the day's applications on time.
Corporators had raised the issue of delays in birth and death certificates at the corporation's general body meeting in September. They had said people were having to wait because of the single login. The commissioner has now also taken the problem seriously. A demand for more logins is being made to the Central government through the state government.
