Suffering mounts in getting death, birth certificates
Staff Reporter :
Complexity in getting birth, death registration certificates from online leaving citizens in utter distress across the country.
Aiming to avail service easy to all, the government introduced birth, death registration certificates programme in online basis. But the reality is people have to wait unlimited time with untold suffering to get it.
Many also blamed the inefficiency of the government employees concerned for mistakes in birth certificates prepared manually, as all the information provided by applicants was not properly uploaded online while a large number of people found their data missing from the national server.
Birth certificates have been made mandatory for 19 citizens’ services, including admission to educational institutions, issuance of passports and national identity cards, and visa applications.
In Bangladesh, the Birth Registration Act was enacted in 2004, but it came into effect in 2006.
When the server was changed in 2010, it was found that many certificates made before 2011 were not available. As a result, many people have to get new birth certificates for availing required services.
The birth and death registration is currently being processed at 5,107 registered offices, including 128 zone offices of 12 city corporations, 329 municipalities, 15 cantonment boards, and 55 embassies in 44 countries through online and direct communication, according to the Office of the Registrar General for Birth and Death Registration.
Currently, an individual in Dhaka has to go to the offices of city authorities and the office of the Deputy Director of Local Government to have their birth certificates corrected. In other areas, people need to visit the offices of public representatives and local administration for services.
Mst Razia, another housewife from the Lalbagh area in the capital, came to DSCC Zone-3 to apply for the birth certificate of her son Md Alamin a second time. Alamin got his birth certificate on October 28, 2014, in Bangla, but his school authorities recently demanded the birth certificate in English, obliging Razia to apply for it again.
‘I came here for the second day to apply for the birth certificate of my son. On the first day, I was turned back as the designated official was not present in the office,’ said Razia.
Asked about the allegations, DSCC Zone-3 zonal executive officer Babor Ali Mir said that in some cases, designated officials had to attend meetings at Nagar Bhaban, so people had to return.
‘We have a separate password for each official, which cannot be shared. This is why sometimes people have to wait or come another day,’ said Babor.
Md. ZahidHossain, Birth and Death Registration registrar general, said that they made birth and death registrations online in October 2010 to reduce public suffering and increase accuracy. Death certificates are required for people to have succession certificates, police cases, and receive the pension of a deceased person.
The government issued birth certificates in 28 districts through a pilot project with the help of UNICEF from 2001 to 2006, according to the Office of the Registrar General, Birth and Death Registration.
Many people who got their birth certificates during the period said that they could not find their data on a government server and had to register their birth again, while many others said that they had their data missing despite registering their birth online after 2010.
The High Court on May 29, 2020, asked the government to initiate a probe into the alleged missing of birth and death registration data on the central server.
The court directed the local government division secretary and the registrar general to submit the probe report within one month.
A bench of Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah and Justice Khizir Hayat ordered the probe after hearing a public interest litigation writ petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer Md Tanvir Ahmed.
