IT was quite amazing to learn from a friend of mine that the cost of getting a birth certificate from the Quetta Municipal Corporation could be as high as Rs18,000, depending upon how late after the child’s birth you have applied for it.

The fee of birth certificate is Rs180 if reported in the first week, and it keeps on increasing by an amount of Rs100 a week ad nauseam.

This seems a good source of revenue generation by the municipal corporation but at the same time could be a financial burden on the people who are not well aware of reporting the birth of their children in time.

Perhaps it needs to be reviewed.

SALEEM RAZAFormer Secretary, Government of BalochistanQuetta