The New Indian Express 06.08.2010
Get birth/death/marriage certificates online
The Thiruvananthapuram Corporation had witnessed serpentine queues that extended out to the roads a few months ago when parents flocked to the office to register for birth certificates of their wards for a project. Mess would be a mellowed description of the chaos the local body had then witnessed. But, some good has finally come out of all the mayhem.
With the distribution of certificates going online, there isn’t the need for queuing up before the offices of local bodies anymore. In the beginning, certificates for births and deaths registered from 2006 and for marriages registered from 2008 would be issued online. The City Corporation had also implemented the online facility to give away building permits a few months ago, but there have been many complaints against it. Inaugurating the facility, Paloli said that the propaganda against the online facility for distribution of building permits ‘’is a planned agenda being implemented by vested interests to mar the image of the CPM-led Council in view of the impending local body elections.’’
In Guruvayur municipality, all registrations from 1970 have already gone online. Vellanad grama panchayat in Thiruvananthapuram district, Thalikulam in Thrissur district and Thanaloor in Malappuram district have also come up with data dating back to 1970. The details of the registrations would also be made available in the website from September.
The certificates can be downloaded, a print taken and used by the public. A statement from the LSG Minister’s office said that the Education Department was considering the necessary measures to be taken to admit students with online certificates.
It is the Information Kerala Mission (IKM) that has developed the software to make the system online. The Guruvayur municipality has set up a touch screen facility to enable the public to know the status of their applications. The local bodies are also gearing up to install e-payment facilities through their offices, thereby providing a facility to pay property taxes from anywhere in the world.
