Secretaries in two blocks report receiving unexpected OTPs before losing access to registration portals; cause of disruption remains unclear
Bijnor: The registration IDs used to issue birth and death certificates in more than 50 gram panchayats of Amroha district reportedly became invalid, raising suspicions of a possible security breach days after 498 allegedly fake birth certificates were generated through the compromised ID of Tofapur gram panchayat.
Similarly, Rajiv Chaudhary, a panchayat secretary in Mandi Dhanora block, said he received OTPs on the nights of Oct 5, 6 and 7, after which the IDs of four gram panchayats linked to the Mohammadpur Patti cluster stopped functioning. An official, requesting anonymity, said the registration IDs of around 50 gram panchayats were showing an invalid status despite their passwords reportedly remaining unchanged. Amroha has 576 gram panchayats, and the disruption affected registration work in several of them. The development followed the suspected hacking of the registration ID of Tofapur gram panchayat in Joya block, through which 498 birth certificates were allegedly generated on Oct 6 and 7 without any applications being submitted to the panchayat. Of these, 270 certificates were issued in the names of people from Uttar Pradesh, while 228 were linked to other states or unspecified locations. The irregularities surfaced on Oct 12, prompting the health department to block the ID and seek cancellation of the certificates.
Panchayat secretaries in Hasanpur and Mandi Dhanora blocks reported receiving one-time passwords (OTPs) on their mobile phones before several registration IDs became inaccessible. You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Meerut | Silver Rate in Meerut | Bank Holidays in Meerut | Public Holidays in Meerut | Meerut AQI | Weather in Meerut | Petrol Price in Meerut | Diesel Price in Meerut | CNG Price in Meerut | LPG Price in Meerut Stay updated with the latest Meerut news.
Officials said the matter had been brought to the attention of the chief medical officer’s (CMO) office, but the cause of the disruption remained unclear. He said he had informed the CMO’s office about the problem. District panchayati raj officer Nitin Kumar, however, said his office had not received any written complaint from the panchayat secretaries concerned.
officials had not established whether the credentials had been compromised or whether any fraudulent certificates had been issued through the affected IDs Although the unexpected OTPs raised concerns about possible unauthorised access. The district magistrate subsequently assigned an investigation to the chief development officer, while the cyber cell also began examining the suspected breach. Complaints about the latest disruption were reportedly conveyed to the CMO’s office, but authorities had yet to determine why the registration IDs became invalid. Download the TOI App.
The health department had issued these IDs to panchayats for registering births and deaths, and they had been functioning earlier. Kamendra Singh, a panchayat secretary in Hasanpur block, said he received OTPs on Saturday, following which the registration IDs of Baseda Khurd, Rampur Bhur and Soharka gram panchayats began displaying an invalid status when he attempted to log in using the existing passwords.