Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 16: All Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference (AJKPC) today said that decision of Union Home Ministry to authorize Block Development Officers (BDOs) for issuing death and birth certificates will further strengthen the public delivery in rural areas of Jammu and Kashmir.
The AJKPC described the decision of Union Home Ministry as “a move to bring public delivery at the doorsteps of the people”. “We whole-heartedly welcome the decision of the Union Home Ministry for bringing a major change in issuing birth and death certificates in rural areas of the J&K. Till now, these certificates were being issued by the heads of concerned police stations where the people used to face inconvenience,” Anil Sharma, UT president of AJKPC said while addressing large gathering of elected PRI members in Udhampur and Ramban during his three-day-long tour to these districts.
Sharma said the major changes introduced in the Registration process is that the BDOs have been designated as the Registrars in rural areas instead of Station House Officers (SHOs) of the concerned Police Stations. “The decision will come into effect from January 1 next year. It had been a long pending demand of the AJKPC and we had submitted a memorandum to the Union Home Minister in the past,” the AJKPC leader said.
Sharma urged the elected PRI members to play the role of a bridge between Rural Development, Panchayati Raj Department and common masses while extending the public delivery.
Prominent among those who attended the meetings in Udhampur and Ramban were BDC Karleep Singh Ukhral Ramban Bali, Mohd Iqbal Katoch Sarpanch, Sanawla Naik, Meh Raj Khan, Istaq Lone, Dilawar and Barkat Ali.