BERHAMPUR: A number of birth certificates that were sent to Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) for verification for issuance of passports have been found to be fake.
The certificates were sent to BeMC Health Officer Dr Subhakanta Dash for verification by the Regional Passport Officer, Bhubaneswar.
Sources said people who had submitted the passport applications belonged to other districts in the State but the place of birth was mentioned as Berhampur in their birth certificates. Further, the certificates mentioned place of birth as Berhampur Primary Health Centre (PHC) or Berhampur Community Health Centre (CHC). Apparently, there is no PHC or CHC in Berhampur.
Dash said all the birth certificates that reached his office for verification are fake and the Regional Passport Officer has been apprised about it.
He said that digital registration of birth certificates in civic body is being done for the last one decade. Prior to that, handwritten birth certificates were provided to people and this created scope for forgery. “Currently, the BeMC employees are digitising these handwritten certificates and uploading them to the database of the civic body. It is a lengthy process and would require some more time to be completed,” Dash said.