ISLAMABAD: The Directorate of Municipal Administration (DMA) has decided to liaise closely with public and private hospitals to register births.
Under the municipality act, all hospitals are required to register births and deaths with the office of municipal administration, DMA Director Shafi Marwat said. To this end, the directorate will write to all hospitals to coordinate the registration of all newborns.
He said hospitals have been issuing birth certificates, but parents need to contact the DMA for registration and B Forms. Under a new policy, birth certificates and B Forms will be issued within a few days for all newborns.
Mr Marwat said the DMA would also set up a desk that will deal with the hospitals. Parents will be able to choose whether they want to register their children in Islamabad or not.
“If someone decides to only obtain a simple birth certificate and get their children registered in their native areas, that will be their choice,” he said.
“We have drafted a letter to be sent to all hospitals to establish a mechanism whereby hospital administrations should keep a close liaison with the municipal administration to inform of the birth of a child, and the citizen will get a birth certificate in the hospital the same day before being discharged. The case will be the same with deaths,” he said.
Weekly markets
The directorate on Tuesday also discussed formulating a policy on the allotment of stalls in weekly markets, and Mr Marwat said all available stalls will be auctioned and allotted through balloting.
He said brochures will be printed and advertisements published in newspapers according to Public Procurement Regulatory Authority ruled.
He claimed that by next month, all residents will be able to find a price list for all items sold in weekly markets a day before the market opens.
He also said that people will be able to lodge complaints online by entering the stall number and location.
Weekly markets under the DMA administrative control have not been handled well.
A recent audit report presented to parliament last month highlighted several serious flaws in the handling of these markets, stating that most stalls in the H-9 market had been sublet and those running the stalls were paying Rs6,000 to Rs12,000 a month to the original allotees.
The report also said that most stalls have been converted and amalgamated into larger stalls without approval and without being charged special rates.
The report had claimed that several stalls were allotted to influential figures, including the family of former MNA Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry. Dr Chaudhry had said that these stalls were allotted to his family decades ago.
The report had said that in certain cases stalls were allotted to individual family members, with five to seven stalls being allotted to one family.
In a few cases, more than one stall was allotted to the same person, it added.
The report had also found that 19 DMA employees – five inspectors and 14 supervisors – were deployed at the H-9 market to monitor commodities prices and the market’s operation and management, but the situation at the market reflected that not a single deployed individual was performing duties properly, leading to the gradual commercialisation of the market rather than the market operating at a no-profit-no-loss basis for the welfare of the twin cities’ residents.
Mr Marwat admitted while speaking to Dawn that the situation at the weekly market is not satisfactory but claimed that a new policy would cater to all these issues.
Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2019
