Question : Issuance of Passports

(a) whether the Government proposes to simplify the process for issuance of passport and to open new passport offices and if so, the details thereof;

(b) whether the Ministry has directed to open Passport Seva Kendras in all the districts in the country and if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether Passport Seva Kendras are being opened in head post offices of the districts;

(d) if so, the State-wise and district-wise details of the Passport Seva Kendras started so far including Chhattisgarh; and

(e) the other steps being taken by the Government to improve the existing time consuming and complicated process for issuance of passport?

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
[GEN. (DR) V. K. SINGH (RETD)]

(a) In order to streamline, liberalize and ease the process of issue of passport, the Ministry of External Affairs has announced a number of steps in the realm of passport policy which is expected to benefit the citizens of India applying for a passport. The details of these steps can be seen at Annexure-I.

(b) to (d) Before 2014, 77 Passport Seva Kendras were operational in the country. After 2014, 16 new Passport Seva Kendras were established by this Government. Thereafter, in the year 2017, a decision was taken in co-operation with the Department of Posts to open ‘Post Office Passport Seva Kendras’ (POPSK), under which as on 06 February, 2019, 326 POPSK have been established. Thus, as on 06 February, 2019, 419 ‘Passport Kendras’ are operational in the country (which includes seven in Chhattisgarh) (Annexure-II).

(e) Apart from the simplification of the steps detailed in Annexure-I, other steps to ease the issuance of passports are:

(I) The mPassport Seva App with additional facilities to apply, pay and schedule appointments for passport services was launched on 26th June, 2018. This App is available in both Android and iOS platforms. Citizens would not require access to a computer and printer to apply for passport services. The mPassport Seva App will now support enhanced set of passport services such as:

i. New User Registration

ii. Sign In to Registered User Account

iii. Application form filing to apply for Passport and Police Clearance Certificate

iv. Pay for Passport Services

v. Appointment Scheduling

vi. Application Availability Status vii. Document Advisor

vii. Fee Calculator

(II) With effect from 26th June, 2018, an applicant can apply for passport from anywhere in India. This citizen-friendly initiative will enable applicants to choose the Regional Passport Office (RPO) and thus the desired Passport Seva Kendra (PSK)/ Post Office Passport Seva Kendra (POPSK) under the RPO where they wish to submit their application irrespective of whether the present residential address specified in the application form lies within the jurisdiction of the selected RPO or not. The Police Verification would be conducted at the address specified in the application form. The passport will be printed and dispatched by the RPO selected for application submission by the applicant.

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