Thanks to a goof-up by personnel attached to the municipal hospital in Bhayandar, a couple has been running from pillar-to-post to get the birth certificate of their child for the past more than three years. This at a time when the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) boasts of providing birth certificates and other documents to citizens at the click of the mouse.
A resident of Uttan village near Bhayandar, Pramila Thakre gave birth to a baby boy at the Pandit Bhimsen Joshi Municipal Hospital (now taken over by the state government) on 27, February, 2016. Pramila’s husband Amol who is an auto-rickshaw driver applied for his child’s birth certificate at the Citizen Facilitation Centre (CFC) located in the main administrative building of the MBMC in Bhayandar. Since then he has been making rounds of the hospital and the CFC- as both are playing the pass-the-buck game. This despite the fact that the child was born in a municipal hospital and the couple have attached all supporting documents including the discharge card. It emerged that the hospital authorities failed to mention the registration number on the documents forwarded to the registration department.
“I am fed up now as none of the civic or hospital personnel are ready to address the issue. Now they have asked me to bring an order from the judiciary. What is my fault and how am I supposed to shoulder the expenses. I am unemployed due to the lockdown, we are struggling to make ends meet.” said Amol.
“In accordance to the Registration of Birth and Deaths Act- 1969, it is mandatory for hospital authorities to record the details of the birth and inform the Registrar of Births and Deaths.” said an official. “It’s a goof up by the municipality and they should admit their mistake and issue the birth certificate.” said social activist- Shobha Jhadhav. It may be recalled that a a MBMC clerk was caught red-handed accepting a bribe of Rs 20,000 for issuing a birth certificate in January, this year.
