TNN | Updated: Feb 2, 2017, 09.03 AM IST
To increase citizens' access to passport services, particularly in
remote regions, finance minister Arun Jaitley announced that head post
offices of each district would be used to render passport services.
"Our citizens in far flung regions of the country find it difficult to
obtain passports and redress passport related grievances. We have
decided to utilise head post offices as front offices for rendering
passport services," he said.
This decision was announced on January 25 by minister of state for
external affairs VK Singh and his counterpart in the telecom ministry
Manoj Sinha.
Secretary (CPV) D Mulay had then said, "This is for the first time
minister of external affairs will be formally giving the powers under
Passport Act to the post office. It's a unique feature where one
ministry is giving the power to another ministry to act on its behalf,
so in a sense postal officers will actually be exercising powers under
the Passport Act."
The MEA will train post office officials in passport services.
