Initial phase of BMD project completed

Shirley Wijesinghe

The Birth, Marriage and Death Certificate (BMD) project has completed its initial phase in the Colombo District where the citizen was able to obtain birth, marriage or death certificates from any Divisional Secretariat situated in Colombo without any difficulty, sources said.

Accordingly, 13 Divisional Secretariats in the Colombo district processed the necessary data at the centralised electronic BMD certificate repository at the Colombo District Secretariat.

“The Lanka Government Network,” the newly established secure digital communication network for the Government will be providing secure access to the centralised BMD repository from all Divisional Secretariats in the Colombo district and search of certificates and issue will be handled by the software application system specially designed for BMD searches and issues.

The system provides utmost security for all activities related to the search and issue of the BMD certificate while authentication could be checked subsequently through the system if required.

The main objective of the BMD project is to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the storage and issue of birth, marriage and death certificates. The project will also lead the way in helping curb corruption and malpractices in relation to false BMD certificates.

The project was initially implemented as a pilot project in the Colombo district and would be replicated in a number of districts in future.

The project was funded by ‘Plan Sri Lanka’, an international NGO to be implemented in five Divisional Secretariats in the Colombo district.

The Colombo District Secretariat implemented the project in association with the Registrar General’s Department under the technical guidance of the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka.