the goan I network
MARGAO
Will members of the Cabinet Advisory Committee “ Sudin Dhavalikar, Vijai Sardesai and Francis D’Souza “ intervene and bring relief to the beleaguered Saxttikars facing immense hardships at the Sub-Registrar office just to lay their hands on their birth certificates?
Otherwise, consider this: Saxttikars are being literally pushed by the officials to apply for fresh registration of their births even though they are in possession of their original birth documents as the office has stopped reconstruction of birth documents based on the original certificates.
That’s not all. While one can obtain a birth certificate from the Municipalities and Panchayats pertaining to birth records post 1972, applicants at the Salcete Sub-Registrar office have to wait for a month, if not more, just to get their birth certificate for want of manpower, with chances high that the officials may end up saying the records are unavailable with the records either torn or mutilated.
While the Salcete Sub-Registrar’s office has got a new Sub-Registrar in Domnick Martins, the old problems continue to haunt the officials for no fault of theirs. Take the case of the manpower shortage.
Ever since the Planning and Statistics Department withdrew staff deputed at the Salcete Sub-Registrar office, issuance of birth certificates has virtually gone haywire. No doubt, intervention by TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai had helped bring back a couple of staff back to the office withdrawn earlier by the Planning and Statistics Department, but the ground reality has not changed for the better.
Inquiries by The Goan has revealed that there’s no peon deputed to the office to scan the mutilated and torn books, while the four staff members have been proved inadequate to handle the applications “ around 100 applications on an average a day. “Four staffers cannot handle 100 applications received by the office almost every day. The government should draft additional workers to clear the huge backlog of applications pending in the office,” remarked an official.
In the past, the Sub Registrar’s office used to issue birth certificates based on the original certificates issued by the office in the event the records are not available. Officials in the know now say the practice has been discontinued for reasons best known to the government, leaving applicants high and dry as they are forced to re-register their birth with a court order for no fault of theirs.
The e-teor facility launched by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has also not helped the birth certificate applicants in a big way. While the e-teor facility had raised hopes that the long wait will be finally over for applicants, Sub-Registrar offices have till date not started issuing birth certificates to the application based on the teors for reasons best known to the government.
“Both the TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai and Law Minister Francis D’Souza are aware of the hardships faced by Saxttikars at the Sub-Registrar office. The Cabinet should take a holistic decision to do away with the ills plaguing the Salcete Sub-Registrar office and help the beleaguered residents,” an official added.
