MEHERPUR, Oct 14: People in need of new birth certificates or corrections are facing hassles in Gangni Upazila of the district due to lack of effective coordination between the union parishasd and the upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) office.
It was not known clearly whether mistakes carried in birth registrations of children and their parents are due to inefficient computer operating or wilful thing.
But it is very apparent that service seekers who are holding right to get efficient and feasible services from these two vital offices are not getting due treatment.
In the case of school admission, parents are facing the uttered disarray. Despite spending extra money, they are not getting due services from these entities. Some parents are facing admission uncertainties for not getting corrected birth certificates in time.
While talking with this correspondent of The Daily Observer, a good number of victim parents said, entrepreneurs were appointed at union parishads for birth registrations; most union chairmen employed unskilled entrepreneurs allegedly in exchange of unethical benefits; now in operating and typing titles or other necessary information, these inefficient entrepreneurs are making serious mistakes; at last, common people have to face untold sufferings.
For correcting even a name spelling mistake, people are running from the union parishad to the UNO office.
Also taking this advantage, many entrepreneurs are grabbing handsum money for corrections.
Asma Khatun, a Betbaria villager in Gangni Upazila, said, her daughter needs a new birth certificate for school admission; her girl's name and age do not match with previous registration; so she came to their union parishad for correction; now union office asked for parents' birth registration certificates; searching online their birth registrations were found full of mistakes.
Girl's mother's name was found wrong in the national identity card, which has increased the irony. After rounding several offices for almost a month, the mother got no result.
Another Nurjahan of the village faced similar suffering for getting a corrected birth certificate for her daughter Shimla. Her husband's name is Bulbul Sardar in the national identity card but in the birth register it is Bulbul Ahmed. The union office took at least 21 days to fix it. But finally it got stuck at the upazila nirbahi office (UNO).
The mother spent about Tk 1,500 on this purpose.
When a person goes to get a birth certificate or correct a mistake, he is asked to bring his tax receipt, parents' birth certificates. If the parents have not registered their births, they should firstly be registered and then their children's births.
In fact, common people are victims of various sufferings at both union office and UNO office. They are deprived of feasible exercise by these two important offices.
Talking with several union chairmen, it was learnt, previously handwritten birth registration certificates carried name and information mistakes as many people could not tell their names and ages correctly.
In the name of server problem, servicer seekers are harassed either in monetarily or physically in these entities.
About taking extra money, chairmen said, a fee has been fixed for the correction; in this case, person concerned misunderstands the issue and says nonsense.
Abu Sayed, computer operator of the UNO office-Gangni said, the server problem is acute; it is not opened at right time; sometimes we have to wait for hours due to slow internet speed along with the extreme load-shedding.
But he could not tell how many corrections have so far been made in the last six months. Chairmen also could not tell how many births have been registered and corrected during the time.
Gangni UNO Moushumi Khanam said, due to various inconsistencies, there is a need to correct those; the people who are in need are coming and their corrections are made without any delay.
She admitted the issue of server failure.
Difficulties regarding birth registration are almost the same in two other upazilas of the district, Meherpur Sadar and Mujibnagar.
