Patna mayor Afzal Imam. Telegraph picture

Patna, Aug. 24: The blame game has begun.

Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) today washed their hands of the alleged nexus between some officials and touts in issuing birth and death certificates. Civic authorities instead pointed fingers at the office of the subdivisional officer, Patna Sadar, and the block development officer.

The Telegraph, on Monday, had exposed how easy it was to get a birth or death certificate, thanks to these brokers. Patna mayor Afzal Imam said investigations had been conducted and it appeared there was no fault of the PMC when it came to the issuance of the birth certificate.

“According to the rules, if a child is born in the same month, one can get the birth certificate from the PMC office instantly after showing the required documents. But if the child is more than a month old, the application is sent to the SDO for verification.”

“I have investigated this matter and found out that the SDO’s office verified the same on the basis of an affidavit and enquiries. But the applicant (myself) never made any affidavit. Then how did the SDO office write it out? This is a mistake on their part. The district magistrate’s office should investigate and take action,” Imam said.

SDO (Sadar) Maqsood Alam said he would look into the matter. “If it is an old birth certificate, one needs to provide the affidavit. Once this is done, the matter is forwarded to the BDO who does the verification. The report comes to us after that and we then move it to the PMC,” Alam said.

“If a very old certificate needs to be made, one needs to provide the matriculation certificate. If not, the affidavit is needed. This matter needs to be looked into. I can only comment after looking into the matter,” Alam said.

Mayor Imam, who had expressed his desire to “talk” with the touts, took a hard stand today. Imam held a series of meetings and ordered investigations. In a chat with The Telegraph, he said action had been initiated.

“The town secretary has been directed to write an application to the Kotwali police station in this regard. The patrolling unit of the police will be moving around the PMC office from time to time and any touts seen will be arrested. The police have been asked to make patrolling in the area more frequent. We are taking this issue very seriously now,” he said.

In addition to this, the main gate of the PMC will be guarded and no broker would be allowed inside the premises, Imam said. “Action will be immediate and instant if they are seen,” he said.