MARGAO
Just imagine a situation when public utility departments hold the citizens to ransom for three consecutive working days for no fault of theirs and the government prefers to look the other way.
Attribute it to egos, game of one-upmanship, politics, procedural wrangles or otherwise, there’s still no respite for Salcete citizens and down South, doing rounds in the Sub Registrar’s office for a birth or death certificate or waiting for a post mortem examination at the Hospicio.
Surprisingly, the government has not stepped in to bring a truce amongst the warring officials of the Department of Planning & Statistics and Registration. The government has also not intervened to break the impasse over post mortem examinations at Hospicio, resulting in untold hardships to the kith and kin of the dead.
If the Salcete Sub Registrar’s office has neither issued a single birth or death certificate to the people since Friday, Hospicio has not conducted a single post mortem examination since last week. While Monday saw Saxttikars queuing up at the office of the Sub-Registrar with the hope of submitting an application for birth certificate or to lay their hands on birth documents, yet another dead body had to be transported to the Goa Medical College hospital mortuary at Bambolim, on Monday, for want of autopsy at Hospicio.
When The Goan visited the Salcete Sub-Registrar office on Monday morning, the ground reality at the office remained unchanged. Neither applications for birth and death certificates were accepted at the office, nor was any official around to issue the documents to members of the public. Many applicants had to return home disappointed for no fault of his or her with the Department of Planning & Statistics and Registrar still at war, wondering why the government has allowed the situation to continue over three working days now.
When Salcete Sub Registrar, Chandrakant Pissurlekar was asked to shed light on the situation, he said all work on issuance of birth and death documents have come to a halt since Thursday. And, blaming the Department of Planning and Statistics for the current situation, he did not foresee any position improving unless the staff withdrawn by the Department of Planning and Statistics is restored.
At Hospicio, the situation was not anything better. A dead body which was brought to the mortuary for post mortem examination, was shifted to the GMC morgue. Hospicio Medical Superintendent, Dr Aira Almeida said the hospital had no option than to refer the body to the GMC since the hospital medico-legal officer and the morgue attendants have refused to conduct the post mortem examinations in the absence of mortuary technicians to seal the
viscera.
“We have issued memos to the morgue attendants seeking their reply whether they are ready to put in the work of morgue attendants without the technicians. We are awaiting their replies and accordingly action would be recommended against them,” Dr Almeida said, adding that the Directorate of Health Services has also called the medico-legal surgeon for a status report.
Says Dramapur-Sirlim panch member: “It’s a sad state of affairs that people of Salcete are not getting their birth and death certificates since last three working days. When I went to the Sub-Registrar office on Monday, they told me that there’s still no staff to issue the documents. People will have no option than to agitate and force the government to work out an immediate solution.”
