Mumbai: Living without a name

Savio Fialho's original birth certificate with his name and all other details present on it, next to his new one with his name and permanent address missing. Pics/Atul Kamble

Byculla-based advocate, Savio Fialho, was recently in for a rude shock when he looked up his birth records online. Fialho entered his registration number and other details in the BMC's online portal for birth certificates, only to find that his name was blank and his permanent address was missing. His time of birth was wrong and his parents' names, and his residential address at the time of birth, was misspelt.

Fialho learnt about the error, when he went to fix "clerical errors" in his father's death certificate. "The certificate didn't have my mother's name as his wife. When I went to get that corrected, one of the main proofs they sought of their marriage was my birth certificate. The one I have is 25 years old and tattered. I applied for a fresh copy at the ward office, but it came with a bunch of errors, which are not present on my original," explained the resident of E ward.

Savio Fialho

On checking his birth record online and those of his cousins, he found that all their names were missing. He expanded the search to include friends and co-workers, and went as far back as 1975, to find the same error everywhere.

He made multiple trips to the Citizen Facilitation Centre of his ward, but to no avail. He hasn't been able to get his name updated so far.

Dr Mangala Gomare, BMC's deputy executive health officer, refuted the possibility of a large-scale error. "Each ward has a register of births, which is maintained manually. This doesn't happen generally, but, if your online certificate has erroneous details, you can turn in an application to get it verified. It will be cross-checked with the physical copy and corrected. If your original certificate has your name, your online one will have it, too. If your original one doesn't, then the online one won't have it either," said Gomare.

Fialho disagrees, "What has thrown me off is that this is clearly a data entry error, which has happened on a massive scale, but it practically amounts to tampering with the records contained in the register of births. The way events have unfolded over the past few years in the nation, I feel it's important for every citizen to have their documentation and records accurate and up to date, especially when the inaccuracy is due to no fault of theirs. I mean, nine out of every 10 families wouldn't leave their child's name blank on the birth certificate, would they?"

Fialho approached his ward's ex-corporator, now MLA from Bhiwandi (East), Rais Shaikh. Shaikh has promised swift action in the matter. "This issue has been brought to the notice of Suresh Kakani, BMC's Additional Municipal Commissioner (health). Hopefully, the glitch will be fixed within 15 days."

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