BENGALURU: Now people do not need to pay more than `10 for birth or death certificates at Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) offices. On the directions from the Centre, BBMP has cut the fee for issuing these certificates from `50 to `2. People need not pay anything if they apply within 21 days of the birth or death. The fee will increase subsequently, but it will not be more than `10. The new fee is effective from November 1.
On an average, BBMP issues around 15,000 birth and around 5,000 death certificates every month. The first copy of a certificate issued by a hospital is free. For additional copies, people had to pay `50 at BBMP’s registration centres and BangaloreOne centres for certified birth and death certificates.
Despite repeated warnings, some private hospitals would charge at least `500 from parents even though they were supposed to give it free of cost,’’ a senior BBMP official said.
“Till now, we had a fee of `50 for birth and death certificates. We got instructions from the Union government to fix the fee for each duration. Based on that, we have issued a reminder to all the officials concerned urging them to follow the fee structure,’’ BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad said.
If one needs a birth or death certificate a year later, it has to be registered through a magistrate and the certificate will be provided on a payment not exceeding `10 as late fee. The Commissioner has requested the public to inform its control room if they found hospital authorities overcharging for certificates and promised to act against errant hospitals.