Kolkata, May 21: KMC officials announced on Thursday that the Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s birth and death registration portal has been partially closed for the verification of certificates issued during the ‘Special Intensive Revision’ (SIR) period.
According to insiders, there has been an unusual increase in applications for old birth and death certificates during the SIR, which were intended to serve as supporting documents for the revision process.
However, sources indicated that the new state government suspects that the certificates issued during the SIR may not be authentic. Consequently, a decision was made to re-verify these certificates, leading to the temporary closure of the portal.
A KMC insider explained that some options will be unavailable for a while due to the partial shutdown. Currently, data on existing birth and death cases can still be uploaded, and certificates can be retrieved from the portal. However, access to old birth and death certificates or digital copies will not be available for some time. Additionally, duplicate copies of lost certificates will also be inaccessible for the time being. This partial closure is expected to last only for a short duration, and all options will be available soon.
Nevertheless, the insider acknowledged that the partial shutdown might cause some inconvenience to the public. The re-examination of certificates issued during the SIR is deemed necessary to ascertain their authenticity.
The decision has led to confusion among the public, as many are trying to access old data, which is currently unavailable. This has resulted in some disputes between the public and KMC staff.