Mobile app for Passport Seva receives good response

Using this app, users can apply for passports, make payments and schedule appointments at their convenient time for passport services, Regional Officer T Arun Prasad said while addressing newspersons in Madurai on Monday.

Moreover, Prasad said that post office passport seva kendra (POPSK) would come up in Ramanathapuram district in a month and efforts are on to set up similar facility in Thoothukudi, Theni and Tenkasi.

With the launch of the mobile app, one can easily apply for a passport even if they don’t have access to a computer and a printer. Moreover, this facility would also help avoid middlemen, who exploit the applicants for money. It would take 30 days for the users to avail passport, however, it could take 17 days for the passport to be delivered once the police verification report is submitted to the passport office.

Further, he said the passport verification process has been simplified. Now, address verification is not mandatory, but the police personnel need to check whether any applicant has crime records.

During last year, around three lakh passports were issued to applicants under the Madurai region and till June this year, 1.35 lakh passports have been issued this year. On a daily average, 1,500 online applications would be received, he added.