MUMBAI, June 20: The collapse of racks housing original birth and death certificates for the period between 1951 and 1961 in a basement of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) head office has made it impossible to retrieve any records since May 26.People who want a copy of an original birth or death certificate related to the above period have to endure a long wait. Already, the list of pending applications has gone up to 63.Applications are pending since April, and old records maintained in the basement of the birth and death section of the health department are in a major disarray.The ``crashed'' racks and files were ``discovered'' on May 26 when an application for a copy of a birth certificate was being attended to. ``The racks may have collapsed much earlier,'' sources admitted. The application was for a birth certificate dated 31.12.1951. The request made at the ward level on March 4 was referred to the head office on May 26. The applicant, whose serial number is 1975 in the log book, has been calling the office ever since, only to be told that ``it would take time.'' Finally, when he paid a visit to the head office on Thursday, an emergency arrangement was made to produce a copy from the general register at Palton road. But four others who had come to get certificates had to return empty-handed.Those in charge of the birth and death section said the basement is in such a shambles that it is difficult even to enter inside. Reminders to the assistant engineer, maintenance, by the executive health officer to have the racks repaired have yielded no results. And as the records remain blocked, it is the health department officials who bear the brunt of applicants' ire.The head office alone receives 40 to 50 applications for copies of certificates daily. ``It is not a small number. Besides, there are applications for corrections in the records,'' sources said.Birth and death certificates are issued by a Medical Officer of Health (MOH), who is also the sub-registrar, under the Registration of Birth and Death Act, 1969.The BMC has, in fact, stored birth and death records from 1876. Originals of certificates between 1876 to 1950 have been kept at Vakola market health post in Santacruz (East), while birth certificates from 1951 to 1961 and death certificates from 1951 to 1973 and birth and death certificates from 1990 to 1994 have been kept at the municipal head office. Birth and death registration certificates for the period between 1961 and 1989 are at BMC's Palton road office.
