MARGAO
Huge queue of applicants, besides torn and mutilated records, welcomed Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar at the office of Births and Deaths housed in the South Goa district Collectorate Tuesday during a surprise visit.
The CM was accompanied by BJP MLAs Nilesh Cabral, Rajan Naik and Subhash Faldesai. The Chief Minister told the Officer and staff manning the births and deaths record section to streamline and expedite issuance of the certificates in a time-bound manner, while making it clear that he would return back to the office in a week s time to ascertain the situation. While MLA Nilesh Cabral is believed to have had a look at the torn and mutilated records, the Chief Minister had a word with the Sub-Registrar Chandrakant Pissulekar to find out the problems facing the office. The births and deaths section in the Salcete Sub-Registrar s office has been in the news with complaints galore on the huge delays in issuance of certificates. This is further compounded by the problem of office space constraints and the torn and mutilated records housed in the office. Parsekar s visit to the office comes a month after deputy Chief Minister Francis D Souza visited the place. Sources in the know said that one cannot hope to get a birth certificate from the office within 15 days. In fact, inquiries have revealed that the office is in the process of clearing applications for birth certificates submitted around mid-February last. “There was a huge backlog of pending applications pertaining to the months of November and December, which have been cleared only last month. On an average, the office receives around 200-300 applications for birth and death certificates every day. The problem was further compounded with the mass transfer of employees from the office,” remarked an official in the know.
