LAHORE, July 27: The city district government has decided to abolish fine for delayed registration of child birth after it received complaints of corruption at union council level in the process.
Official sources told Dawn on Friday the decision was taken after a secret survey which confirmed corruption in the process, mainly by the secretaries working in 150 union councils of Allama Iqbal, Data Ganj Bakhsh, Nishtar, Ravi, Shalimar, Wagah, Gulberg, Samanabad and Aziz Bhatti towns.
The CDGL would soon issue a notification to abolish Rs500 fine for reporting and registration of birth to the UC secretaries after a delay of 50 days or so.
“Most of the officials, particularly the UC secretaries, are abusing the system by depositing lesser amounts with the treasury by tampering with birth records and looting the public at large,” CDGL Administrator/DCO Noorul Amin Mengal told Dawn.
He said before taking the decision finally, he thoroughly examined the entire process of registration of newborns and issuance of birth certificates. He said as per rules the parents/guardians had to pay Rs500 as fine to the authorities if they reported the birth with a delay of 50 days or so. But, dozens of officials concerned were either found charging more than the prescribed fine from the parents or depositing lesser amounts to the treasury than what they were charging from the public.
Mr Megal said the officials were also found involved in tampering with birth record being maintained at the UC level in the city district’s limits.
He said he had constituted a special team to pay surprise visits to union councils and set the things in order.
He said he would also take the local government department and other concerned quarters on board in this regard.
“Though we have decided in principle to abolish this system, I will take the department’s secretary on board very soon and issue a notification in this regard,” the DCO said, adding the decision would not only be beneficial for the public at large but also help eliminate the officials’ corruption.
He said after abolition of the fine only Rs100 as birth registration fee would be charged from the parents/guardians. He said the officials involved in corruption would face a stern action soon.
HELPLINE: The DCO said the newly launched toll free Zimadar Shehri helpline was contributing a great deal in solving the public problems quickly.
“On Friday, we received as many as 250 calls from the people out of which 30 were related to Ramazan Bazaars which are our top priority. We responded to all of these 30 complaints and solved the people’ problems,” he said.
OPERATION: An LDA team on Friday demolished structures being constructed illegally at a private housing scheme.
Officials said the owners of Military Accounts Scheme were carrying out construction work at plot No34 and 68 without the approved map.