GHMC to track Rohingya births and deaths with UNHCR tags

The GHMC will now record details of newborns and deceased individuals from Rohingya families in a separate database, tagging their records with a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) identifier.

The decision comes amid concerns over documentation misuse and follows instructions from the Intelligence department to help track Rohingya refugees residing in the city. Officials said this identifier will be embedded in GHMC records for internal verification but will not appear on official birth or death certificates issued to the Rohingya population.

Hyderabad is home to over 20,000 Rohingya people, mostly settled in Bandlaguda, Barkas, Balapur and nearby areas. The UNHCR and its local partner, Modern Architects for Rural India (MARI), offer support and services to these refugees and asylum-seekers.

Sources told TNIE that intelligence officials met GHMC authorities on Monday and discussed how to monitor the documentation issued to the refugee group originally from the Rakhine state of Myanmar. GHMC was advised to incorporate the UNHCR tag into its internal records for all birth and death certificates issued to the Rohingya while ensuring this tag is not printed on the actual certificates. This measure aims to help government agencies verify the authenticity of such certificates if needed for passport and Aadhaar verification.

GHMC has agreed to the proposal and will maintain a separate register of births and deaths pertaining to the Rohingya people for internal reference by government agencies. Officials clarified that the data will not be made public.

This development comes in the backdrop of a heated GHMC council meeting earlier this month, where AIMIM and BJP corporators clashed over fraudulent documentation. The civic body had revealed that over 23,000 fake birth and death certificates had been cancelled. BJP corporators alleged that some of these documents were being used by Rohingya to obtain Aadhaar cards and passports.