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A Passport Seva Kendra, the first in the State and the 13th in the country, was inaugurated here on Friday. Six more such kendras would be opened in the State and the total number in the country would go up to 77.
Mr Muktesh Kumar Pardeshi, the Joint Secretary and the Chief Passport Officer in the Ministry of External Affairs, who inaugurated it, said the e-governance project was being implemented in the country in association with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to pave the way for hassle-free and transparent issue of passports, eliminating middlemen and touts. Procedures had been simplified even for a common man to get a passport easily.
He said there were at present 37 passport offices in the country, including the one at Visakhapatnam, but they were not able to cope with the work pressure in view of the ever-increasing number of passport applicants.
Therefore, in the public-private partnership mode, the Ministry of External Affairs had introduced the PSK project in association with TCS. The first PSK was set up in Bangalore, in 2010, and the remaining would be opened in phases.
Mr K. Srikar Reddy, Regional Passport Officer, Hyderabad, said six more such PSKs would be opened in the State in a few months' time. Three of them would be located in Hyderabad and the rest at Vijayawada, Nizamabad and Tirupati. Mr Surendra, Passport Officer at Vizag, said the local passport office had been rendering excellent service to the public, in spite of staff shortage and the setting up of the PSK would greatly ease the pressure.
The local office was covering five coastal districts - Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, East and West Godavari districts. The rest of the State comes under the jurisdiction of the Hyderabad passport office.
Features introduced
Mr Rajesh Dogra, head of the passport wing, TCS, said the Passport Seva Kendras in the country had so far processed over seven lakh passport applications. On the aggregate, each PSK was processing 4,000-4,500 passport applications every day.
Biometric features and digital signatures had been introduced. There was also a fully functional call centre and the passport applicants can obtain answers in five languages, including Telugu, to their queries on the status of the application. He thanked the Ministry of External Affairs for its co-operation in the implementation of the project.
Police verification
Mr J.V. Poornachandra Rao, Commissioner of Police, Vizag, promised that the police verification procedures would also be expedited and made hassle-free to make it easier for the passport seekers. Mr Chandra Prakash, Post Master-General, Vizag region, promised that the passports would be delivered quickly. Mr Rupesh K, head of the local PSK of TCS, also spoke. Mr K. Sasidhar, Vice-Chairman of the Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority, also participated in the function.
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