Weeks after an internal probe exposed over 87,000 fake birth certificates issued by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the civic body has rolled out an Artificial Intelligence-backed system to digitally preserve and retrieve key citizen records, beginning with E ward in Byculla. The initiative, titled Vision AI Vault, comes amid heightened scrutiny of the BMC’s birth registration system after the civic administration revealed that 87,347 fake birth certificates were issued between 2024 and 2026. Of these, 5,505 certificates were traced to E ward alone. Civic officials said the pilot project was launched following directions from Mumbai Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide to integrate AI-based mapping across the civic database. The new system aims to digitise decades-old records — including birth, death and marriage certificates — many of which have deteriorated due to Mumbai’s humid weather and ageing storage conditions. Officials said records that earlier took nearly a month to retrieve could now be accessed within minutes. Unlike conventional scanning systems, the AI-powered platform can reportedly read handwritten English, Marathi and Hindi documents, restore faded text and correct distortions caused by damaged paper and ink smudges, including in pre-Independence era records. Officials said users will be able to retrieve documents by entering a name, following which digitally signed certificates will be generated online.