Kolkata’s birth certificate backlog has crossed 20,000 after the Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s chatbot service stopped functioning because of a malfunction in the state government’s Janmo Mrityu portal, leaving residents facing delays in obtaining documents needed for passports, school admissions and other official processes.
A KMC health department official said applications through the chatbot had effectively halted after the state portal malfunctioned. On some days, officials have allowed only four or five applications to be submitted, mainly during early morning hours, the official said.
The disruption has continued for several months and has also affected the civic body’s ability to process pending applications. KMC birth certificate wing personnel are now dealing with more than 20,000 cases that accumulated after the state portal and chatbot service stopped operating normally.
The portal was closed after the state government ordered an inquiry into alleged irregularities in birth certificate applications during the SIR hearing, according to the report. The resulting disruption has affected residents who need copies of existing birth certificates, as well as applicants seeking certificates and related corrections.
The delays have become particularly difficult for people requiring birth certificates for passport renewal. Police verification of birth certificates for passport-related applications can create time pressure, and KMC health department sources said middlemen were taking advantage of the situation by offering to accelerate applications in exchange for money.
Residents have also complained of being asked to submit documents repeatedly or wait for extended periods. Madhuchhanda Bose of Tollygunge said she had submitted a photocopy of her son’s existing birth certificate and his hospital discharge certificate, but was allegedly told to wait for a month or pay Rs 10,000 for faster processing. The allegation has not been independently established in the supplied report.
Sudip De, a resident of Hatibagan, said he initially struggled to secure a chatbot slot for an application for his son’s birth certificate. After receiving a slot, he was told that document verification could take 15 days. Following verification, KMC sends the application to Swasthya Bhawan, which then decides whether to send a download link to the applicant’s registered contact number.
De said he was told that, in some cases, the application could take four to five weeks to process. The reported workflow means that applicants may face delays at several stages, including securing an application slot, civic document verification and processing by the state health department.
A KMC health department official acknowledged that complaints had been received about harassment by a section of civic employees. The official said the civic body would try to ensure that applicants with genuine documents were not harassed and that certificate issuance remained hassle-free.
The official also said police personnel deployed at the birth and death certificate wing should more actively identify middlemen who claim to have official connections and promise to obtain documents in exchange for cash.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the manual clearance system could process around 300 applications a day, according to the KMC official. That capacity fell to less than half after the chatbot service was introduced, the official said. KMC’s next steps involve clearing the pending applications, addressing complaints and restoring a functioning application process through the state portal and the civic body’s chatbot service.
