Even as the BBMP’s plans to issue birth and death certificates within an hour of the event being recorded may not materialise soon, the civic body is determined to ease the process of obtaining these vital documents.

The BBMP claims to have developed a unique software allowing it to issue birth certificates on the same day and death certificates within three days. Touted as being a pioneering initiative in India, the software allows electronic transfer of data on births and deaths directly from hospitals to BBMP registration centres.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Shankarappa, joint director (Statistics), BBMP, said every year, around 1.6 lakh births and 50,000 deaths occur in BBMP limits. He explained that the e-transfer software had 54 different data fields on cause of death and also recorded the age of the deceased, whether a baby is underweight and the age of the baby’s mother.

Currently, registrations are done at 27 centres of the BBMP and at government/BBMP hospitals. Shankarappa said the registration of births and deaths using the software will be carried out at 1,480 private health institutions, 22 BBMP maternity hospitals and six referral and five major hospitals.

All these hospitals have been given an identity number and password, which will be used by the staff to transfer data to registration centres.

How the New Software Works

• Details of a birth/death will be recorded at hospitals

• Data will be transferred from hospitals to BBMP registration centres

• Staff at registration centre will approve the received data and take a printout

• The hospital shall collect the printout of birth certificates and hand it over to parents before the baby and mother get discharged

• Processing time is three days for death certificate

• Both shall be issued free of cost

Advantages

• Quick transfer of data

• Avoids mis-linking of records

• Citizens can obtain any number of copies (only the first one is free) at registration centres, citizen service centres, BangaloreOne and other offices

Ensure These are in Order

• Each certificate has pre-printed unique serial number

• Has State and Central government emblems

• Contains BBMP emblem watermark

• The printed certificate comes with a digital security code

• Has a digital signature In the Pipeline

• If hospitals fail to issue certificates as prescribed, their trade licences will be cancelled

• In case of delay or non-issue, penalties will be levied on hospital/ BBMP staff and the sum will be given to parents
  

After first promising that there would be no water shortage during summer, including an uninterrupted supply of 1,300 million litres per day, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) is now set to supply water in tankers at `360 per load (6,000 litres).

While many areas in the city depend on ‘Cauvery water’, when this or their regular water sources, whatever they may be, prove  insufficient, people generally turn to private parties that supply water through tankers.

However, an important question is whether BWSSB’s water tankers are sufficient to quench the city’s thirst.

“Thirty tankers are nothing. Even if they have 100 tankers, it won’t be enough,” says Kumar K, proprietor of Kaveri Water Supply with its office in Vasanth Nagar. With three tankers, the firm supplies water at `400 per load.

He also adds that while there’s some competition among private water suppliers, they do not consider a similar service by the BWSSB as a threat.

“We have our regulars (customers) - especially apartment complexes and commercial establishments like hotels,” he says.

Vishwas M, who owns Banashankari Water, which supplies 6,500 litres at `600 adds that their prompt service too works to private businesses’ advantage.

“People know that it’s not easy to get BWSSB tankers to come home. From what I’ve seen, you need someone with influence to ask them if you need them to arrive on the same day, even,” Vishwas adds.

According to him, promises like these are more easily made than implemented. “We know how hard it is to refill and cover long distances. Plus, when everyone wants water in the summer, even our sources are drying up, and when water’s aplenty during the rains, there’s little demand for it.”

Gururaj, an employee at J P Nagar-based Revathi Water Supply which supplies a load at `500, thinks that this is a much needed change. “This business is a hard one to survive in. We had six tankers earlier. Last year, we cut down to three, and now there’s talk of closing down altogether. The problem is that we don’t have the resources that the government has - tankers, water sources, power supply among them. And after all, water is a basic amenity, so shouldn’t they take care of it?” Nevertheless, he too feels that the number of tankers that provide this facility should go up.

A source within the BWSSB claims that the Board’s intention is merely to regulate the rates quoted by private tankers.

“The service we’re providing is available throughout the year, but why should people pay exorbitant rates unnecessarily. We hope if we announce that we supply at `360, they too will bring down their rates,” the official says.