MeeSevas mess with e-certificates

MeeSeva centres in the new mandals are issuing incorrect certificates of caste, residence and income to students and are taking a long time to do so too.

At many centres the staff is delaying uploading of applications and supporting documents to the server, so that they can be accessed by the tahsildar.

J. Veeranjaneyulu applied in the local MeeSeva in Balanagar for caste, residence and income certificates required for the college admission of his sister.

“We got the certificates after a month but errors appeared in the certificates. The caste stated in the certificate is completely wrong and in the residential certificate, the address is not ours,” he said.

A source in the revenue department said that some newly formed mandals do not have full-fledged tahsildars and so the applications are pending.

“We found that errors in some certificates were done at the MeeSeva operator’s end. They uploaded someone else’s supporting documents along with the applications of students. We have asked MeeSeva operators to upload applications afresh," the source said.

In Balanagar mandal, which falls in Medchal district, there are about 350 pending applications for caste, residential and income certificates as there is no full-fledged tahsildar.

Gowri Vatsala has taken charge just recently and has begun clearing applications. She is concentrating on applications pending for a long time - 57 were from two months back. As per the citizen charter, the revenue department should issue certificates from between one week to 30 days.

A MeeSeva organiser in the city blames the low bandwidth available in the new mandals. “The process of uploading applications and supporting documents requires at least 4 MBPS. Below this speed, the web portal takes time and during server issues, the organiser needs to upload from the beginning and during this process, the files get misplaced,” he said. Deputy Engineer of MeeSeva P Srinivas said he is not aware of the issue and will verify the matter.