Barishal dwellers in limbo over death records

Obtaining death certificates has become a far cry for some Barishal dwellers, as all records kept at the city corporation's annexe building were burned to ashes on August 5.

Arsonists had set fire to the five-story building following the fall of Sheikh Hasina's government. This incident destroyed all death records, stored vaccines, and mosquito control equipment, said sources at Barishal City Corporation (BCC).

According to the corporation's birth and death registration department, around 600 Muslim and 400 Hindu deaths are recorded annually. The corporation's records are updated every three months. While the city corporation was able to revive records of Hindu deaths that date back to 2004 and that of Muslims to 1990, it is impossible to revive records of preceding time frames. As such, data for approximately 50,000 people who died during this time has been completely lost.

Birth certificate requests can be processed as the corporation has a digital backup of the records. However, the absence of a digital backup for death records complicates the issue for a substantial number of people, especially heirs of the deceased, said Rasel Sikder, an official of the department.

"We now have to form a committee who will investigate the applications by visiting the residences of the deceased who died before 1990 [for Muslims] and 2004 [for Hindus]. Certificates will be issued after the committee's investigation reports are submitted to us, which should take at least 2 months for each application," he said.

He said they received 50 such applications in the past three months, adding that none of those could be processed yet.

"This will be a very painful and time-consuming task... The committee will be formed soon," he mentioned.

This disruption has led to suffering for many, like Munim Ahmed, a resident of the city's ward no 2, who has been unable to obtain his father's death certificate despite repeated visits to BCC for the past three months.

"My father Shahabuddin passed away in 1975. However, the corporation does not have any documents in this regard. I need the paper urgently to process some land-related documents. I don't know if I'll ever receive his death certificate," he said.

Many others, including Biva Rani Guha's family, who resides in the same ward, were seen in similar plights.