The Hindu                      23.07.2012

Corporation to issue birth and death certificates online soon

About 70 per cent of work on uploading data has been completed

Residents running from pillar to post to get birth or death certificates will soon heave a sigh of relief as they will be able to download the certificates from the City Municipal Corporation’s website free of cost soon.

Till now the birth and death certificates were issued only at the four zonal offices of the corporation at Suramangalam, Hasthampatti, Kondalampatti and at Ammapet or only at the corporation main office.

Currently around 100 birth and death certificates are issued at the civic body main office everyday, while 250 certificates are issued at the four zones.

For the issue of certificates, the civic body charges a fee of Rs. 5 for the first copy and Rs. 7 for the second copy.

Certificates are also delivered to the applicant’s home within two days of submitting the application.

Uploading the data of more than seven lakh birth and death events from 1981 to 2011 is being carried out with around 70 per cent of the work been completed till date.

Uploading of the remaining data is expected to take another two months time as test run would be carried out before enabling the option for the public to download the certificates.

For issue of birth certificates, hospitals will submit details about time of baby birth, mother’s name and other details through online, which will be validated by a health officer and uploaded in the website.

People can enter the details and download the certificates and take a printout from any computer.

One has to obtain certificate of burial or cremation from the divisional sanitary inspector for natural death and later would be able to download the death certificates.

In case of death due to accidents, first information report (FIR) copy, autopsy report from the hospital should be submitted to the civic body and upon verification, the death certificates can be downloaded.

Carried out as part of e-governance project, the initiative being implemented is expected to reduce public complaints regarding late issue of certificates, alleged corruption practices and prevent malpractices.

Corporation Commissioner M. Ashokan said that this would bring in more efficiency and transparency in the functioning of the civic body besides curbing the activities of touts.

The Hindu         23.02.2012

Now, CCTV units must for commercial buildings

The pressing need for enhanced monitoring of public spaces has finally been recognised by the Chennai Corporation.

The Corporation Council on Wednesday adopted a resolution approving amendment to the Chennai City Municipal Corporation Building Rules 1972 that makes the installation of CCTV systems mandatory for all commercial establishment and public buildings.

The resolution follows instructions to the civic body from the State government for taking adequate measures pertaining to installation of CCTV cameras in such buildings where people gather in large numbers.

On account of the absence of rules for installation of CCTV system, the civic body has asked the government to approve the resolution seeking amendment to the rules.

The new buildings where CCTV camera has to be fixed include public buildings, banks, shops, malls, shopping complex, petrol filling stations, ATM counters and other buildings where people visit for purchase of goods.

The Corporation will give building approval for construction of the new building only if the building design includes the provision for installation of CCTV system. In the existing buildings, CCTV system would have to be installed at the time of obtaining permission from the civic body for change of use of the building.

Every year, the Chennai Corporation is issuing building permits to over 12,000 buildings including special buildings, multi-storey buildings and layouts after taking over the land left over for road and open space reservation once the planning permits are issued by the CMDA.

“Many of the requirements such as ramp and rainwater harvesting structures are only on paper. It is not done after the building is constructed.

The Corporation should ensure that the CCTV system is installed after the building is completed,” said N.Jayakumar, a civil engineer who recently installed CCTV system in a building on Velachery-Taramani Link Road.