The year 2017 registered a 19 per cent growth in passport related services

NEW YORK CITY(TIP): The Indian government plans to open a ‘Passport Seva Kendra’ in each of the 543 parliamentary constituencies across the country by March next year to ensure convenient passport services to its people, Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh said here, November 21.

“We plan to have a Passport Kendra in each head post office (in India) so that any citizen doesn’t have to travel beyond 50-60 km for his or her passport services,” Singh said.

The government is trying to ensure that Indian citizens do not face any difficulty in obtaining their passports whether in India or abroad, he said as he launched the ‘Passport Seva’ project at India’s Consulate here.

The ‘Passport Seva’ project has brought in a huge transformation towards delivery of passport services in India, Singh said while handing over passports to a few Indian citizens who had used the new program to renew their passports.

“This project will ensure better services for our citizens abroad. It is a service which is truly meant for citizens,” he said at the global launch of the program here.

The new system will ensure an easy and convenient application submission process, usher-in standardization, digital overhauling, end-to-end status tracking and enhance security, the minister said.

The year 2017 registered a 19 per cent growth in passport related services. The monthly submission of applications has crossed one million mark for the first time and more than six crore passports have been issued through the ‘Passport Seva’ system, the minister said.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has taken several measures to improve the passport service delivery experience, including by simplifying several passport rules and doing away with cumbersome requirements that delayed the process and led to unnecessary hurdles, he said.

The MEA with the Department of Posts took the decision to start ‘Passport Seva Kendras’ in head post offices.

As a result, 236 ‘Post Office Passport Seva Kendras’ (POPSKs) have been operationalized to date and many more are in the pipeline. This, when added to 36 passport offices and 93 erstwhile ‘Passport Seva Kendras’, makes a total of 365 passport offices for public.

The MEA has also initiated the integration of ‘Passport Seva Program’ at all Indian Embassies and Consulates across the globe.

The MEA has successfully initiated a pilot project at the High Commission of India in London followed by the Consulate General of India in Birmingham and Edinburgh.

After launching the global ‘Passport Seva’ program at the Consulate General of India in New York for the Indian diaspora, the MEA will launch the program at the Indian Embassy in Washington followed by the Consulate in Atlanta.

It aims to operationalize all Embassy/Consulates in the US during the course of next 15 days.

The Indian government plans to roll out the global ‘Passport Seva’ program at all Embassies/Consulates within the next three to four months, a move that will ensure that “our ‘Passport Seva’ globally is inter-linked and centrally controlled,” Singh added.

To a question raised by the editor of The Indian Panorama with regard to those from Punjab who sought asylum,  not being issued passport, the minister said the government was looking in to the issue.

Asked to make a statement on the dissolution of the Jammu & Kashmir State Assembly, the minister told The Indian Panorama that it was the Governor who in his wisdom considered the situation and recommended the dissolution of Assembly to the President. He admitted that the government in J & K, in  which the BJP was a partner, was not exactly functioning for some time.

Asked if he thought it was the achievement of Indian diplomacy that the US cancelled its aid     to Pakistan, the minister gave a smile and quipped that it as for the US to decide, and his government had no hand in the issue.

On Thursday, November 22, General Singh launched the Passport Seva Project and had an interaction with the community at TV Asia in Edison, New Jersey.

(With inputs from PTI)