The government is thinking about extending the time for the universal birth registration programme for the third time as only 2.80 crore people received their birth certificates since July 3, 2006.
The programme was supposed to complete registering every one in Bangladesh by the end of this year.
Over 11 crore people are yet to receive their birth certificates and it is not possible for the government to reach and gather data of so many people by December this year, said sources in the LGRD ministry which deals with the birth registration programme.
Using the national ID cards as birth certificates for people aged above 18 would save at least Tk 146 crore of the government and would be less time consuming, they said adding that it would also be helpful for this group, 52 percent of the population. Apathy of the LGRD ministry makes the process of birth registration time consuming and expensive, they added.
The project was earlier scheduled to ensure birth registration for all by July this year. The government had to move the project-end date to December this year.
“The birth registration activities have slowed down due to the voter list programme and we have collected information of only 50 percent of the people so far… we have a plan to extend the project time," Director of Birth Registration Project Shafikul Islam said adding that every one has the legal right to have a birth certificate.
"Unicef recommended incorporation of the birth certificate project with the national ID card project for people aged above 18. We had a meeting with the Election Commission [EC] and the Ministry of Home Affairs in this regard, he said.
They are currently examining whether the national ID card could be used as birth certificate, he added.
Since the information in the national ID card and the birth certificate is almost the same, question were raised as to why people would have to have two documents that pretty much have the same information.
Only 2.80 crore people have received the birth certificates while birth related information was collected from 5.45 crore people as of September 2007.
It is quite impossible to ensure birth certificate for all by December this year as the local government has manpower shortages and finance and capacity issues to complete the project this year.
Talking to The Daily Star Secretary of Dakkhin Khan Adarsha Union Parishad Mahbub Alam said 60,000 to 65,000 people out of six lakh people in the area have been registered so far and nearly 25,000 received their certificates.
"Nine members are working for birth registrations in nine wards under the union and I think it will be possible to cover 50 percent of the residents by December 2008," he said adding that if the national ID card is used as birth certificate for the people aged above 18, it would help them a lot and could save a large amount of public money.
"Our work would be reduced by 70 percent initially and later 90 percent of the work would be gone if the national ID card could be used as a substitute for the birth certificate," he said.
There is only one upazila parishad secretary in every upazila engaged with birth registration activities along with various other duties. Furthermore, the post is vacant in many upazila parishad offices.
It would be possible to complete the task by December if the national ID card could be used as birth certificates for the people aged above 18, around 59.5 million people, experts say.
Mohammad Shah Alam who submitted his birth registration form at Zone-7 of Dhaka City Corporation showed his form to The Daily Star where the delivery date was mentioned "April 4, 2010".
"We do not have the logistics and manpower to register around three lakh people under this zone by December this year. We can hardly cover 25 percent of the people here," said Executive Engineer of Zone-7 Mainuddin.
"If we want to reach all the people of this zone within the scheduled time, we would have to register 1,200 people every day. But, currently we can register only 200 to 250 people a day," he added.
According to the Birth and Death Registration Law, 2004 it is mandatory to show birth certificates for getting 16 services. The birth certificate would be used for passport, driving licence, TIN number, job application, business identification, receiving admit card for taking public examinations, bank account opening, applying for microcredit, withdrawing governmental allowance and land purchasing and selling.
At the same time, the certificate should be used for getting trade licence, purchasing and selling vehicles, involving oneself in insurance in an insurance scheme, marriage registration, voter identification in different elections, admission in educational institutions, gas-water-electricity connection, telephone-mobile, internet, cable TV connection, receiving governmental subsidy, any case or appeal in court and share application and for other governmental services.
As per law, a child is supposed to get its birth registration within 45 days.