Issuance of Birth, Death certificate: A secret income for corrupt officials

By Mohammed Hussain Ahmed Hyderabad : To obtain a Birth or death certificate is a huge problem in twin cities.  Without greasing the palms of the corrupt “health assistants”, it is difficult to get these certificates.  Pay Rs.3000 and get birth or death certificate immediately. If you do not pay, then be prepared to hear the pretext of “outsourcing” and keep visiting the office till you get fed up, a report says.  It is learnt that due to irregularities in issuing birth and death certificates, the files of the applicant are kept pending for upto six months with the officials without approval.  “The corrupt officials are using the “health assistants’ as middlemen”, the report said According to the procedure, the birth or death certificates are to be issued within 15 days from the date of application.  But the corrupt officials have made the issuance of these certificates as a secret source of their income.  “Nelofar hospital is a government hospital where no action has been taken on about 5000 applications for the past six months.  The applicants get tired commuting to the office and ultimately they catch hold of brokers to obtain their required certificates through bribes.  They have to pay anywhere between Rs.1000 to Rs.3000 for obtaining their required certificates”, the report said.
An incident came to fore recently where a death certificate was issued in “Karwan” in the name of a man living in Dubai.  The persons who obtained that certificate wanted fraudulently to get the property of that person transferred in their names.  These people were caught red handed.  The GHMC officials described this incident as an aberration of an individual employee.