Residents of Salt Lake and its adjoining areas will soon be able to apply for birth certificates, death certificates and trade licences online, an official of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation said.

The old website of the civic body had been down for almost a year and no body could use it to get any service.

A revamped website has now replaced it although the address remains the same — `www.bmcwbgov.in`.

Krishna Chakraborty, the new mayor of the civic body, said that they had tried to make the website as user-friendly as possible.

“We are trying to extend as much digital services as we can. The focus is to reduce the need of physically visiting the corporation offices to get work done. We expect all the website’s services to be functioning after the Pujas,” said Chakraborty.

Apart from the certificates, bookings for community centres, playgrounds and application for pet licence can be made online as well, an official said.

The application for these services can be submitted online and the permits and licenses can be downloaded from the website, the official said. These online permits and licenses will not require any signature.

The online general permission system has come into effect from August 1. However the payment for services have to be made by physically visiting Poura Bhavan.

“The online payment facility for the above services will be introduced shortly,” said the official.

Right now people can download the application forms for birth or death certificates from the website but have to submit them at the corporation headquarters or at the borough offices, sources said.

According to the official, property taxes can be paid online and residents can even download the selft-declaration form for property tax assessment from the website.

An external agency has been given charge to design and maintain the site.