(a) whether the Union Government have taken a decision to set up District Passport Offices in the country;
(b) if so, the State-wise details of such offices which have been set up/likely to be set up and the time by which they are likely to start functioning; and
(c) the time schedule laid down for issuance of Passports by these passport offices?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS (SHRI VINOD KHANNA)
(a) The Government has decided to decentralise the passport services and to bring these services closer to the people. Under this scheme, the passport applicants can deposit their filled passport application forms through the office of the District Magistrate/Superintendent of Police in every state throughout the country. The districts where the number of applications exceeds 10,000 per year will have dedicated District Passport Cells. The forms will be scrutinised and documents checked by the District Passport Cells and then forwarded to the Passport office who will issue the passports. The scheme has been launched in twenty three States and one Union Territory of the country.
(b) As of now, partly or fully, all States have implemented the decentralisation scheme except the States of Goa, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Uttaranchal and West Bengal. While Goa is a small state with only two districts and their needs are fully addressed by a full-fledged Passport Office in Panaji and the State Government of Karnataka has decided to implement the scheme w.e.f. 1.9.2003, there is no indication from the State Governments of Rajasthan, Uttaranchal and West Bengal as to the date of implementation of the scheme.
(c) Since the passport application is accepted at the district offices and sent to the concerned passport office along with the clear police verification report, it is envisaged that the time take to issue a passport will be reduced and a passport could be issued in about 4 to 5 weeks time.
ANNEXURE 1
STATEMENT SHOWING STATE/UT-WISE DETAILS OF DISTRICT PASSPORT CELLS
State or UT Name Total No. of No. of Remarks Districts Districts having DPCs
Andaman and Nicobar (UT) 2 O + Andhra Pradesh 23 20 X Arunachal Pradesh 13 2 PACC @ Assam 23 9 $ Bihar 37 37 - Chandigarh (UT) 1 - X Chhattisgarh 16 16 - Dadra and Nagar Haveli (UT) 1 0 No date notified Daman and Diu (UT) 2 0 No date notified
Delhi 9 - To be inaugurated in two districts during August, 03
Goa 2 - X Gujarat 25 25 - Haryana 19 19 - Himachal Pradesh 12 9 + 1 PACC in Shimla $ Jammu and Kashmir 14 12 X Jharkhand 22 22 - Karnataka 27 - To be implemented from 1.9.2003 Kerala 14 4 $ Lakshadweep (UT) 1 1 - Madhya Pradesh 45 10 $ Maharashtra 35 21 X Manipur 9 1 PACC @ Meghalaya 7 1 PACC @ Mizoram 8 1 PACC @ Nagaland 8 1 PACC @ Orissa 30 30 - Pondicherry (UT) 4 0 X Punjab 17 17 - Rajasthan 32 - No date notified Sikkim 4 1 PACC @ Tamil Nadu 29 28 X Tripura 4 4 - Uttar Pradesh 70 68 X Uttaranchal 13 - No date notified West Bengal 19 - No date notified
Total Number 597 360
(+) Andaman and Nicobar Administration has been delegated powers to issue passports. It has its office at Port Blair in the Secretariat.
(X) No need felt as there is a passport office/Passport Application Collection Centre (PACC) to look after the passport work in the districts not covered.
(@) Number of passport applications received from these North Eastern States is so negligible that the PACCs at the State Capitals is sufficient to look after the passport work.
($) No date has been notified for implementation in the rest of the districts.