The Times of India              16.05.2013

Birth, death certificates to be available online from next week

COIMBATORE: Birth and death certificates will soon be made available online, thanks to the efforts of the city municipal corporation which is presently creating a database of births and deaths registered in the city since 1978. Part of the civic body's e-governance initiatives, the database will soon be uploaded on its server from where residents can access the certificates.

"We are preparing the database at the moment and it will become functional by next week," said G Latha, commissioner, Coimbatore corporation. The civic body will upload web links which could be accessed and searched based on name, address or date of birth or death maintained in the register. The copy of the birth and death certificate could be accessed and downloaded from the website. Latha said the database will be expanded (to include births and deaths before 1978) in the coming months.

The civic body had included the proposal as one of its e-initiatives in the 2012 corporation budget. As of now, it maintains a manual record of births and deaths. Whenever a birth is registered in any of the government or private hospitals, it is reported to the city municipal corporation. As per the present system, family members of the deceased or the newborn has to approach the zonal office of the corporation and fill in an application with the name, respective date and other personal details. These forms have to be submitted at the respective ward offices along with a fee of Rs 5 to procure a copy of the certificate.

"After the birth is registered with us, the application needs to be submitted after the name of the baby is decided. It has to be filled up and submitted within the first year of the birth. The birth certificate can be collected from us within a few days. If a self addressed envelope is provided then the document will be posted," said a corporation official.

Once the online facility is introduced, residents will be able to download the birth and death certificates from the corporation web portal after the completion of the initial registration procedure.