The road leading to the Collectorate, where touts wait for clients. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

One can procure a fake or original birth certificate at will through the backdoor even as the district administration continues to sit on a “secret” plan to crack down on the touts involved.

The Telegraph on Friday published how easy it was to procure a genuine birth certificate from the Patna Municipal Corporation with the help of touts and without any verification of the person in whose name the document was issued. The touts had helped this correspondent get a certificate in the name of Nishant Kumar, the son of chief minister Nitish Kumar.

There was, however, no check on the touts till Friday morning. They were still soliciting prospective client with cries: “Affidavit karana hain? (Do you want to get an affidavit done?)” Asked if they could get a genuine birth certificate issued by the civic body, the answer was a resounding “yes”.

District magistrate N. Saravana Kumar claimed he had read The Telegraph report and was mulling a plan of action to check the illegal practice. “But I can’t divulge the plan. We shall soon take some action against the touts and their clients,” he said.

The report published on March 8 was not the first time light has been focused on the illegal trade. The Telegraph had published reports on February 20 and 21, elaborating on how the touts helped people get fake birth certificates for a fee of around Rs 200.

While the district administration continued to plan and procrastinate, senior politicians aimed barbs at the government.

CPM leader Sarvodaya Sarma said: “This speaks volumes of Nitish Kumar’s claim about the success of the right to service during his regime. The bureaucracy is highly corrupt and inefficient. It is getting worse by the day.”

He added that a parallel system was functioning in government offices. “It is run by brokers and mafia on whom the people have to depend. Nitish Kumar’s claim of good governance has never been translated into reality.”

Those at the centre of the controversy, however, have continued with their business unperturbed. When this correspondent asked one of the touts how to fill up the form for a genuine birth certificate, he smiled wryly and said: “You must remember. You did it last time.” But he explained it patiently all over again.