Getting a new passport or renewing an expired one will be quicker and less cumbersome, say passport department officials.
Getting a new passport or renewing an expired one will be quicker and less cumbersome, say passport department officials. For one, it will be compulsory to submit applications online, thereby eliminating middlemen. Also, the waiting time after successful submission of an application will now be lesser.
Passport officer TD Sharma said that a passport will now be issued within seven days for tatkal (urgent) applications while it will take a month for others.
Earlier, an urgent passport was issued after a month’s time while it took up to four months for others. “Now, we have roped in Tata Consultancy Services to simplify the procedure,” Sharma told DNA. “We want to make our office paperless and transparent. And we do not want agents (middlemen) loitering around our offices.” Generally, passport agents charge anywhere between Rs5,000 and Rs10,000 to get a passport made.
Over the last two years, the number of passports issued has risen and the new procedure promises to be a boon to the public. In 2011, the passport office issued 2.2 lakh passports while 1.64 lakh were issued in 2010. “Every year, the number of applications is rising. To cope with the rising number, more service centres will be set up,” said an officer.
Also, you will no longer need to wait in long queues for hours to get your documents verified. Applicants will now be allotted time slots for this, said a senior official. “For senior citizens, the system will be even more convenient. And applicants will be able to track the status of their applications by using a number allotted to them,” said the officer.
Things are expected to get better with the police department also planning to set up its own system for easier police verification.
“We will not need to send documents physically to the police for verification. It will be done online and could further cut down time taken by at least another three days,” said Sharma.
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