A server overload has suspended the countrywide issuance of birth and death certificates for the last 10 days, causing suffering every day to thousands who need the legal documents for at least 16 public services and official purposes.

The server, built under the “birth and death registration” project of the Local Government Division and financed by Unicef Bangladesh, is connected to 5,300 centres in unions, municipalities and cantonments, reports our Savar correspondent.

Birth certificates are a prerequisite for getting passports, TIN certificates and national ID cards and building plan approvals and for admission in educational institutions, appointments in different government, semi-government and autonomous bodies; export, import, driving and trade licenses; marriage, car and land registrations; and opening bank accounts.

The 10 zonal offices of the Dhaka north and south city corporations are each turning down around 50 to 100 people every day for being unable to access the server.

This correspondent met Zannatul Nayem Mitu seeking a birth certificate at the zone-2 office of Dhaka north city corporation (DNCC). An MSc student of United International University, she needs a passport to apply for higher studies abroad.

Business student Kazi Mehrab Noor was there too; he urgently needs to open a bank account.

Laboni Akhter says she is in dire need of the certificate to apply for a job at a private firm.

In the Savar municipality office, Secretary (in-charge) Md Saifuddin said every day several thousand people were returning empty handed.

“Birth certificates are sought more during this time of the year when admission tests at educational institutions begin,” he said.

The project director, AKM Saiful Islam Chowdhury, said they needed at least 90 days to get the server up and running.

Meanwhile, they were working on a network-attached storage to temporarily provide the service. When that would be available could not be said for certain, he added.