KMC mulls birth certificates for abandoned children
The Statesman | 20 November 2025
Bringing hope for orphans having no trace of their parents, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation is to consider issuing birth certificates to abandoned children.
The matter was brought to the fore by councillor of ward No. 48, Biswarup Dey in the monthly House of KMC. The councillor put up a question before the House asking the process of issuing birth certificates to orphans, particularly abandoned children. He also pointed out a question about issuing birth certificates for children of single mothers.
Replying to the query, the deputy mayor of KMC, Atin Ghosh informed the House that the civic body would consider issuing birth certificates to such children if the application is made by some NGO that picks up the child and becomes the custodian. As elaborated by the deputy mayor, the civic body has also streamlined the process of obtaining the birth certificate for children of single mothers or even those born at home.
“If a child is born at home, the parents or guardian would have to fill up form number two and submit it to the KMC,” said the deputy mayor. “The civic body would then issue a birth certificate as per the information provided in the form. For single mothers also the name of the parent would be mentioned in the birth certificate as per the information provided in the application to the KMC,” he added.
For abandoned children, the member-mayor-in council for the health wing in the KMC, informed that for obtaining birth certificates for such children, the organisation would have to give an attestation, mentioning that the child was abandoned or was born on footpaths along with the name of the local guardian. However, the details of the process of attestation by the doctor or the name of the parents or guardian in such cases are yet to be known from the KMC.