Question : Opening of New Passport Seva Kendras

Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

(a) the total number of Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs)/Passport Offices working in the country at present, State-wise;

(b) whether the Government has prepared a plan to open at least one passport centre within a radius of 50 km and if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the Government has announced the launch of 149 new Post Office Passport Seva Kendras (POPSKs) in the second phase recently;

(d) if so, the details thereof and the time by which they are likely to be set up, State/UT-wise; and

(e) the steps taken/being taken by the Government to provide quality service to the people in these PSKs?

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
(SHRI M. J. AKBAR)

(a) There are 91 Passport Seva Kendras (PSK) and 55 Post Office Passport Seva Kendras (POPSK) working as on 15 July, 2017. There are 38 Passport Offices functioning in the country. List of Passport Offices is at Annexure-I, list of Passport Seva Kendras (PSK) is at Annexure-II, list of POPSK functional as on 15 July, 2017 is at Annexure-III and list of POPSK announced in Phase-I and not yet functional is at Annexure-IV.
(b) There will be 93 PSK and 235 POPSK after the operationalisation of all the POPSK announced in Phases I and II and the PSK at Siliguri (West Bengal) and Solapur (Maharashtra) following which there will be 328 Passport Seva Kendras in the country. The Ministry of External Affairs and the Department of Posts (DOP) have decided to utilize the Head Post Offices (HPO) in the various States as Post Office Passport Seva Kendra (POPSK) for delivering passport related services to the citizens of the country. The Government intends to open POPSK in the HPO in the country in such a manner that there is a Passport Seva Kendra available within a radius of 50 km of every HPO.
(c) & (d) Yes. The Government has announced on 17 June, 2017 the opening of 149 new Post Office Passport Seva Kendras (POPSK) in Phase-II. The list is at Annexure-V. The Ministry intends to complete the requisite formalities like preparation of sites, procurement of IT and non-IT equipment for setting up of these POPSK at the earliest.
(e) In the recent years, the Ministry has made many quantitative and qualitative improvements in the delivery of passport services in the country. With the implementation of the Passport Seva Project in partnership with its Service Provider M/s TCS, the Ministry has been providing quality service to the people from the Passport Seva Kendras (PSK) established with best in class amenities across the country in PPP mode. Under this system, the applicants are required to apply for their passports online, upload relevant documents, make the payment online through debit/credit card or SBI net-banking/SBI Challan, schedule an appointment and then visit the designated Passport Seva Kendra (PSK). A user friendly portal has been made available. When an applicant visits the PSK, an Electronic Queue Management System (EQMS) working on the principle of First-in First-out is available at all PSKs to monitor the flow of applicants. The applicants can track the status of their applications themselves through portal and also SMS services. In the current system of passport issuance, there is no manual intervention at any stage, and the complete process is digitally flown with re-engineered process through a single visit clearance.