Passport applications in Madurai region up by 10 percent in 2018

According to T Arun Prasad, Madurai Regional Passport Officer, “After simplification of the process for applying passports in 2016, there was an increase of around 20 per cent in issuance of passports, against the annual average number of 2.4 lakhs, in 2017. Next to Kanniyakumari, Ramanathapuram and Sivaganga topped in number of applications.”

Talking to reporters on Wednesday, he said, “It was not mandatory to submit date of birth certificate while applying for passports. Those residing with single parents can also apply for it. Only two passport seva kendras, one in Madurai and the other in Tirunelveli, existed under the Madurai region till 2017. To expand passport service, the Central government introduced ‘Post Office Passport Seva Kendra’-(POPSK) in post offices.”

According to rules, every Lok Sabha constituency should either have a Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) or POPSK. Apart from these two PSKs, POPSK’s had been started in post offices at Kodai Road, Virudhunagar, Devakottai and Nagercoil. Besides, trial operations for a POPSK had been conducted in Bodi and Rajapalayam.

Two more POPSKs would be made operational in Ramanathapuram and Thoothukudi by the first week of February, Arun added, “With the existence of such facilities, applicants need not move from their localities, to far off places to avail passports. Now, within a distance of 50 kilometres, passport services could be availed,” the officer said.

Most importantly, Arun said that, the ‘mPassport Police App’, which was introduced last year in association with the Tamil Nadu Police, yielded desired results as several applicants managed to receive passports without delay.

“Normally, it will take 35 days during 2014 to receive passport after completing all the formalities of police verification. With the advent of electronic advancements, it got reduced to 18 days in 2017 and with the aid of the mobile app, now, it has come down to six days for receiving passport. Even some police Commissionerates act swiftly to complete the verifications at the earliest to issue passports within 48 hours,” Arun added.

Further, the officer said that three tonnes of paper was saved by this regional office during the last year owing to paperless transactions.