Kolkata: Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has stopped issuing death certificates at crematoriums and burial grounds since Saturday, leaving hundreds of bereaved families without a crucial govt document and with no clarity on when or how it will be issued.The sudden move, reportedly resulting from a verbal order linked to an ongoing inquiry into the issuance of birth and death certificates, has already affected around 1,000 families who cremated their loved ones and several hundred others who buried their kin in the KMC area over the past three days.After submitting medical death certificates issued by attending doctors and surrendering Aadhaar cards of the deceased, families are getting only a money receipt — a document with no legal value for inheritance, insurance, pension, banking, property transfer or other statutory claims.No cremation certificates are being issued either, compounding the problems faced by families from outside Kolkata. Those who cremate a relative in the KMC area but live outside need a cremation certificate before applying for a death certificate from their local civic body. With KMC withholding the document, such families have been left in limbo.The crisis began on Saturday (July 25), when families arriving with bodies at crematoriums in the city were told that no cremation or death certificate would be issued after the cremation. A KMC health department source said a verbal order from the civic headquarters reached crematoriums on Saturday, directing sub-registrars not to issue the certificates until further notice.The verbal order, sources said, appears to be linked to the probe into the issuance of birth and death certificates that led to police raids in civic offices in Kolkata and elsewhere in the state on Thursday. A team also visited the Keoratala and Nimtala crematoriums.“The order is hampering smooth functioning of the crematoriums. A major trouble may break out any moment if the order is not revoked,” said a KMC staff member at a crematorium.Civic officials acknowledged that the situation has created hardship for residents. A death certificate is not merely a record of passing; it is a mandatory document for settling bank accounts, insurance claims, pensions, gratuity, property succession, mutation and several other legal and administrative matters. Without it, families cannot initiate many post-death formalities.“A death certificate is also needed for family members to establish their citizenship,” another KMC official said.Pressure is mounting on KMC to restore the earlier system, officials said.Employees at the crematoriums are also worried that the backlog of records will soon become unmanageable. With every passing day, more deaths are being recorded without corresponding certificates being issued, raising fears of clerical chaos once the instruction is taken back. “We are working under extreme constraints. If the order is not withdrawn soon, the backlog will be unmanageable,” said a crematorium employee.Sources in the KMC health department said the disruption may have been triggered by a Swasthya Bhawan order restricting the authority of sub-registrars to sign death certificates. If implemented strictly, the power to sign such certificates would rest only with the registrar — in KMC’s case, the chief municipal health officer.The decision has raised serious questions over administrative preparedness, especially because no alternative mechanism appears to have been communicated to the public before the suspension took effect
