(a) whether the Government has a plan of action to make optimum utilisation of post offices across the country and if so, the details thereof;
(b) whether any of the post offices in the State of Kerala is proposed to function as a Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) and if so the details thereof; and
(c) whether the Government proposes to open PSK in any of the post offices in Ponnani Constituency and if so, the details thereof?
MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS,
HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND
ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI SANJAY DHOTRE)
(a) The Post Offices across the country are being utilised optimally to provide traditional services such as Letter Mail and Parcels, Registration and Money Order services, Post Office Savings Bank services (POSB), Postal Life Insurance/Rural Postal Life Insurance services and Philately. In addition some new Citizen Centric services have also been introduced through the Post Office network;
(i) 1,36,078 Post Offices have been rolled out as India Post Payment Bank (IPPB) access points.
(ii) Aadhaar Enrolment & Updation Services through 13,352 Aadhaar Enrolment and Updation Centres.
(iii) Passport services through 424 Post Office Passport Seva Kendras (POPSKs).
(iv) Biometric enabled digital service for securing life certificates for pensioners- ‘‘Jeevan Pramaan’’ through 811 Post Offices.
(b) Yes, 7 Post Offices Passport Seva Kendras (POPSK) are functioning in the state of Kerala at Chengannur (Cochin), Kattappana (Cochin), Nenmara (Cochin), Palakkad (Cochin), Kasargod (Kozhikode), Attingal (Thiruvananthapuram) and Pathanamthitta (Thiruvananthapuram).
(c) The opening of Passport Kendras in various Post Offices including Ponnani constituency would depend on various factors such as distance from the existing Passport Kendras, volume of applications from a particular region, availability of space in the Departmental Post Offices and feasibility etc.
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