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Odisha
Photo: OTV
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For hundreds of parents of Chandbali block in Bhadrak district, visiting the Chandbali community health centre (CHC) for birth certificate of their children and having to return empty-handed has become a routine affair. These distressed and depressed parents have ascribed it to the callousness of the district administration.
After receiving the complaint, OTV team on Wednesday visited the CHC to find out the veracity of the allegation.
A scene of parents with their children queuing up at the facility welcomed us.
During the interaction, the parents opened up about the problems they are experiencing for not having their children’s birth certificate.
“I have so far visited the CHC for not below than 70 to 80 times for birth certificates of my 6-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter. I am yet to get my children’s birth certificates,” alleged Purna Chandra Das, a parent.
Expressing his anguish, another parent Bhagaban Sahu said, “I have been doing rounds of the CHC for last two years for a birth certificate of my daughter. I have been told that the data of children born between 2016 and 2019 have been deleted from the site, which is maintained from Delhi.”
A visibly disturbed another parent, Archana Jena said, “Our child was born in 2020. However, we are yet to get the birth certificate of our child. Consequently, we are having trouble in getting her Aadhaar card. When enquired, we are being told the site is not functioning.”
We also came to know that many of these parents are visiting the CHC from distant villages, with some being 20-30 kilometres far from the facility.
They alleged they are facing several problems including not being able to get Aadhaar cards for their children, admission in schools and open bank accounts under Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana.
When contacted, medical officer of Chandbali CHC, Dr Bishnu Sahu admitted that the site is dead. “As the site is dead, it is not possible on our parts to give birth certificates. We have already written to the higher authorities in the State and Centre, informing about the problem. But, nothing has been done so far to fix the issue,” said Sahu.
In this regard, we also met the additional district medical officer (ADMO), Bhadrak who pleaded helplessness.
“The data entered between 2016 and 2020 online are no longer available. And it is beyond my limitations to fix it. I would rather advise them (parents) to visit either the district public health officer or CDMO. If possible, they can also visit the district Collector,” said ADMO Dr Santosh Prusty.
If children’s data have been deleted, then the same can be accessed from Mamata Cards and uploaded. Why it has not been done as yet is yet to be understood.
