Photo caption.
A queue of people outside the office of the Salcete Sub Registrar for birth certificates. Santosh Mirajkar
MARGAO
There seems no respite to Shastikars from the ordeal of laying their hands on the birth and death certificates from the Salcete Sub Registrar office.
Serpentine queue of applicants for birth and death certificates is literally the order of the day at the office of the Sub Registrar despite the fact that the government has posted a skeletal three-member staff to attend to the work.
That the applicants are given long dates to collect their documents has turned frustrating, with people saying they have nowhere to go, with the government dilly-dallying on the question of strengthening the office with additional staff members.
That the war between the department of Registration and Planning and Statistics has not come to an end is evident by the fact that the government has deputed only three staffers at the Sub Registrar’s office when the requirement is pegged around 9-10 employees. “This ordeal faced by the common man from Salcete is the creation of the government. When the department of Planning and Statistics had recalled its staff from the Sub Registrar’s office, the government did nothing to replace the transferred staff with new faces. The government should take some tough decision to make the office functional," remarked an officer in the know.
When The Goan contacted Salcete Sub Registrar Chandrakant Pissurlekar to shed light on the worsening situation at the birth and death section, he pointed out that things can fall in place only by deploying additional staff at the office. “Can three employee cater to the growing requirements in an office where applicants come in hundreds for birth certificates. Out of the three employees, one is drafted to appear in the court in cases where one applies for fresh registration of their births," Pissurlekar said, while saying that the situation may stabilise only after the election code of conduct is lifted and the government takes the decision to post additional staff at the office.
