The Hindu                23.05.2013

Birth, death certificates at the click of a button

Records between 1981 and 2011 available online.

Want birth or death certificates? Your destination is not any Coimbatore Corporation office but your computer at home or a browsing centre. For, the civic body has launched the facility where the certificates would be available online for free download.

Mayor S.M. Velusamy launched the facility in the presence of Commissioner G. Latha, Deputy Commissioner S. Sivarasu, heads of various committees and zones and councillors.

Those who were born or the kin of those who had breathed their last in the city between 1981 and 2011 could access the records by entering the date of birth or death, the sex, father’s name, mother’s name and the place of birth or death.

A release from the Corporation said that 8.99 lakh birth certificates and 5.46 lakh death records were digitised in the process. For accessing records of those who were born or had died after 2011, one has to go to the ward office concerned.

The release said that the Corporation erected a new server for the purpose so that a maximum 2,000 downloads could take place at a given point in time.

This was part of the civic body’s efforts to digitise records and bring about a transparent administration.

Mr. Velusamy said that the Corporation had also made available online the process of getting building plan approval for buildings less than 4,000 sq.ft. It had also introduced the SMS-based feedback facility.

The Corporation had also recently launched the SMS-based grievance redress system, where the citizens could send messages to the given number for a time-bound remedy.

Officials, right from the Commissioner, would daily review the status of the complaints received and redressed for further action.

Within a few days of the launch of the facility, the Corporation had received more than 2,000 messages.

8.99 lakh birth certificates and 5.46 lakh death records digitised.