Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of External Affairs
Government of India
Ministry of External Affairs
16-March-2016 15:06 IST
Expediting Passport Issuance
The
Ministry has announced two major changes recently that will expedite the
process for first time passport applicants as well as make it more convenient
to secure an appointment at local Passport Seva Kendras. As per the
announcement, the first time passport applicants who furnish Aadhaar Card,
Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC), PAN Card and an affidavit in the format
of Annexure-I will get faster service without payment of any additional fees,
subject to successful online validation of Aadhaar and EPIC and PAN Cards, if
required from the respective databases. The passports under this liberal
dispensation will be issued on Post-Police Verification basis.
The
second measure announced pertains to securing online Appointments for
submission of passport applications at Passport Seva Kendras. The new provision
is allowing applicants to choose any appointment date from the earliest five
available dates (working days) for scheduling/rescheduling an appointment for
Passport related services. Earlier, the System used to offer only one available
date to the applicants for seeking appointment for Passport related services.
No
extra charge is levied for the services being rendered due to above two
announcements.
There
was a temporary shortage of passport booklets which created some backlog in
issuance of passports in December 2013 – February 2014 and April 2014-mid June
2014 due to stoppage of production of booklets by ISP Nashik due to shortage of
raw material imported from abroad. However, there is no backlog in the
issuance of passports due to supply of passport booklets at the
present.
In
view of increased demand for passports, the Ministry is considering to further
increase the number of PSKs and endeavoring to open more PSKs in thickly
populated district headquarters. With the implementation of Passport Seva
Project (PSP), the Ministry had established 77 Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) in
various States/Union Territories initially. Subsequently, to provide more
access points for passport services, the Ministry decided to set up 19
additional Passport Seva Laghu Kendras (PSLKs). Out of these 19 PSLKs, 10 have
already started functioning in various States and Union Territories till
February 2016. The Ministry has also initiated the process to engage an
agency to conduct a comprehensive study for Passport Seva Project Version 2.0
(PSP V2.0) including exploring the possibility of opening more PSKs across the
country. It may be stated that the recommendations for the PSP V2.0 will
be considered after expiry of the current PSP Contract in June 2018. ………
