Birth certificates add to misery of urban poor

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PoushaliMitra

Posted online: Tuesday , February 05, 2008 at 02:59:41
Updated: Tuesday , February 05, 2008 at 03:17:10

Kolkata, February 4 The municipal corporation’s programme of distributing birth certificates to the urban poor has fallen flat with numerous errors cropping up.

The idea was mooted on the ground that the birth certificates will help their children seek admission in schools.

The first set of certificates were handed over amid much fanfare on June 18, by Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya.

It was a joint scheme by Kolkata Municipal Corporation, the UNICEF and City Level Programme Organisation (CLPO).

But being full of errors, the certificates issued have been of little help to the recipients.

Calcutta Samaritans, a Central Kolkata-based NGO, collected some of the distributed birth certificates .

“Around 500 birth certificates have been collected from Rajabazar area. These certificates are full of mistakes. Hence the children are not being able to use them,” said Sabir Ahmed of Calcutta Samaritans.

Admissions in schools are getting cancelled due to these incorrect birth certificates, he added.

Till date, 28,000 birth certificates have been issued.

It is feared that a good percentage of these will have to be corrected.

In over 60 certificates, wrong addresses have been recorded.

Instead of East Canal Road, names of the streets in 60 certificates have been mentioned as Canning East Road and Canning Road — there are no such roads in Kolkata.

The cases in point would be of 8-year-old Asima Khatoon and 6-year-old Sarita Passowan. The correct PIN code of the area is 700009. But the PIN code stated in the certificates is 700011.

Worse, in the birth certificates issued to Sonali Khatoon, Julekha Khatoon and Md Siraj, their gender has been altered.

“The mistakes in the birth certificates are unfortunate. We are in the process of rectifying them. Nearly Rs 50,000 has been spent for this,” said Achinta Bhattacharya of CLPO.

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