It has been more than a month since GHMC Commissioner M.
T. Krishna Babu assured an agitated council about restoring the right
of Citizen Service Centres (CSCs) to issue birth certificates along with
Meeseva centres. But, it is yet to happen.

The
Commissioner is said to have written to the government about the
council’s demand to open more avenues to obtain birth/death certificates
by permitting CSCs to issue and seeking appropriate directions.

Contention

The
civic body was forced to halt issuing birth certificates through its
CSCs recently following a direction from the IT Department.

The
department’s contention was that when digitised certificates were made
available through Meesevas there was no rationale in issuing
certificates signed with the traditional ink signature of the medical
officer concerned.

Meesevas are able to issue instant
certificates as about 25 lakh certificates from 2000-2013 have been
digitised from among the 75 lakh certificates computerised since 1957.
The demand now is that CSCs be allowed to do the same.

For
that to happen, senior officials say, the IT infrastructure should be
strengthened in the CSCs The government, if it agrees to the GHMC
request, will have to ask the AP Online to share the Meeseva software
with the CSCs to enable them issue digitised certificates.

“Allowing
CSCs to issue certificates together with Meeseva centres will be of
great help to citizens. Moreover, at CSCs a certificate costs just Rs.20
while it is Rs. 42 at Meeseva centres,” pointed out TDP floor leader in
the council Singireddy Srinivas Reddy. The CSCs were issuing four times
more the number of certificates compared to Meeseva centres before the
former was told to stop the service. Currently, Meesevas are issuing
close to 400 certificates a day when compared to 100 a day before
whereas CSCs were issuing up to 800 certificates at the peak level.