System failure: Manglawar UC unable to issue birth certificates

Absence of secretary from office leaves residents without proof of birth.

MANGLAWAR: Thousands of residents of Manglawar union council have complained against their UC office staff for not issuing birth certificates. The UC has a population of over 40,000 and is 10 kilometres from Mingora.

Residents complain whenever they go to the UC office to apply for their birth certificates the staff there sends them away, saying the clerk is absent from duty. The birth certificate is an important document as it is needed as a proof for admission in schools, to apply for jobs and to apply for visas to go abroad.

“I need my birth certificate to apply for a visa but it isn’t being issued as UC secretary Akhtar Hussain cannot be found at his office,” said Ihsanullah, a local. “Other staff members say the secretary is the only one who knows how to log into the computer to issue it.”

When the UC office was contacted, an official said the secretary has been suspended on charges of corruption. He confirmed only the suspended employee has access to the software through which birth certificates can be issued.

In the absence of Hussain, Charbagh UC secretary Mushtaq Ahmed visits the Manglawar office twice a week to tend to urgent matters.

Birth certificate dilemmas

Without a birth document, a No Record or No Entry of Birth certificate has to be obtained from the UC, which states the birth of the person was not officially recorded. The date of birth is then recorded at the office which issues proof to be taken to either the NADRA office or the DC’s office from where a computerised birth certificate is issued.

Babuzai Assistant Commissioner Ashfaq Khan said immediate action would be taken and the process shall resume from Saturday (today).

Published in The Express Tribune, February 14^th, 2015.