KOLKATA: Issuance of death certificates for those who didn’t live in Kolkata but have recently died here, and getting copies of death certificates for Kolkata residents who died three decades ago, are proving to be difficult. In the former case, the civic authorities are directing families to seek redressal elsewhere. In the latter, they are demanding documents that are difficult to come by.
Howrah resident Diptosh Ghosh has been running from pillar to post for a month to get his father’s death certificate. Ghosh’s father had died at Medical College on May 8 and was cremated in Howrah.
Ghosh booked a KMC chatbot slot to get a death certificate and went to see a health department official on May 22. But he was told to approach Medical College. There, his request was turned down on the grounds that a portal for issuing such death certificates was being upgraded. “No solution is in sight,” said a family member on Monday.
According to a KMC official, the problem was getting compounded in cases of special death registrations and issuing copies of death certificates. “After introduction of the new system, the procedure has changed. Under compulsion, we are refusing several citizens who either want a death certificate under the special registration rule or copies of certificates issued in the past,” he said.
According to the birth and death registration act, when a person dies at a city hospital or nursing home but is cremated outside the KMC jurisdiction, the case is treated as special. In such a case, the family needs to produce the cremation certificate and apply for the death certificate from KMC. However, under the rules introduced after May 5, KMC can no longer be held responsible for issuing such certificates.
Citizens applying for copies of death certificates are now being asked to produce Aadhaar card, voter card, passport or Swasthya Sathi cards of the deceased. However, a KMC official said citizens are queuing up for copies of death certificates issued in early 90’s when some documents did not exist and others weren’t mandatory. “In such cases, we need to get more rational,” said a KMC official.
For citizens who are able to produce the documents, KMC is providing a QR Code to be registered with the health department.
