Suvidha Centre at surgeon's office fails to serve purpose, leaves patients harassed - Hindustan Times
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Suvidha Centre at surgeon's office fails to serve purpose, leaves patients harassed

Hindustan Times | By, Ludhiana
May 21, 2014 08:38 PM IST

The 'Suvidha Centre' at civil surgeon's office has failed to fulfill the purpose of helping people, and is causing inconvenience to them.

The 'Suvidha Centre' at civil surgeon's office has failed to fulfill the purpose of helping people, and is causing inconvenience to them.

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HT Image

Every day people come here from far away villages of the district to get death and birth certificates, but they are a harried lot in this scorching heat due to insufficient seating arrangement. Moreover, there is no facility of cold water at the centre.

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Old as well as young women and handicapped people, all have to stand for hours in long queues at the
Suvidha Centre window. In absence of any shed people have to bear the shining sun. As there is no token system, people have to stand in queues for their turn. Nearly 300 people visit this centre on daily-basis.

A 79-year-old, Charanjit Kaur, who came from Aassi Kalan, and was sitting on the floor under the shade of a tree, said, “I was not able to stand in the queue thus asked the person standing in front of me to reserve a seat and let me know when my turn will come. It's been 30 minutes now and I am still waiting for my turn.”

The height of inconvenience to the people takes all their patience, when the power cuts are imposed and the computers shut down. As the centre has no generator facility, sometimes people have to return without getting their work done.

The centre charges `55 for the not found certificate. Out of this amount, the share of civil surgeon's office is `25 and rest `30 goes to the centre. In the same way, `45 are charged for death and birth certificate. Out of this, `15 is government fee that goes to civil surgeon's office and `30 goes to the centre.

An elderly man, Gurdev Singh, who hailed from Chakar village, said, “The administration should provide some facilities at the centre. They are charging `30, but not even providing the facilities worth even `3.”

A few chairs donated by a bank to the civil surgeon's office were laid near the Suvidha Centre, but in absence of proper shed many people find it difficult to sit there. Besides, the only water cooler installed just in front of Civil Surgeon office does not provide cold drinking water.

When contacted, civil surgeon Dr Subhash Batta said, “There is no shed or sitting facility just in front of the Suvidha Centre window, but he people can sit on other places on the civil surgeon's office premises.”

On being asked about the token system, Batta kept mum. He said water facility was there in the civil surgeon's office.

Contrary to this, the main suvidha centre on the deputy commissioner's office premises presents a totally different view. The fee charged for the service is same, the process is totally different. At this centre, people come, take tokens for their turn, and wait for their turn in AC hall. There is proper drinking water supply, and the washrooms too are in a good state. Besides, the power cuts don't affect the work here, as the centre has a generator as power backup.
NGO complaints to DC

Members of the Vishwa Guru Ravidass Mission met deputy commissioner Rajat Agarwal on Tuesday to discuss the issue of inconvenience being faced by the visitors at the civil surgeon's office. They made him aware about the situation.

President of the mission Shiv Ram Saroye said, “Firstly, if the government has made it mandatory to register death and birth, then the certificates should also be provided free of cost. Even if, they are charging fee for the same, people should be provided with basic amenities at the centre.”

He said otherwise the centre at Civil Surgeon office should be shifted to the main suvidha centre on the DC office premises.

DC Rajat Agarwal marked their request to the chief medical officer (CMO) and asked him about the possible solutions for providing better facilities to the visitors.

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