Pune: The Pune Municipal Corporation has decided to issue certificates pertaining to births and deaths on watermarked papers to avoid forging of documents.A decision to this effect was taken earlier during the general body meeting on Friday. "The municipal corporation does not have a foolproof system to detect or avoid forging of original certificates and duplication can be done easily," Congress leader Arvind Shinde said.To prove his point, Shinde presented a forged birth and death certificate of an individual in the general body meeting and both the certificates had the same date. Taking the matter seriously, the civic administration ordered an inquiry into it. "Those who are responsible for the lapses will be punished," said municipal commissioner Kunal Kumar.Mayor Mukta Tilak said, " Using watermarked paper can be an option. Watermarked papers should be strictly used for all such certificates."The municipal corporation is also planning to issue these certificates online. Applicants have to submit applications at the ward offices to obtain these crucial documents, which take about 21 days to be issued after submitting the application. Since 2014, the civic body has been issuing the first copies of birth and death certificates free of cost. Subsequent copies are charged Rs 10 per copy.The Kasba Peth municipal office is the main place where data collection for birth and death certificates is done. But the data can be accessed from all the 15 ward offices across the city and certificates can be issued.

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