KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR
The Government of India Wednesday announced two major changes recently that will expedite the process for first time passport applicants as well as make it more convenient to secure an appointment at local Passport Seva Kendras.
As per the announcement, a PIB statement issued this evening, “the first time passport applicants who furnish Aadhaar Card, Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC), PAN Card and an affidavit in the format of Annexure-I will get faster service without payment of any additional fees, subject to successful online validation of Aadhaar and EPIC and PAN Cards, if required from the respective databases. The passports under this liberal dispensation will be issued on Post-Police Verification basis.”
“The second measure announcement pertains to securing online Appointments for submission of passport applications at Passport Seva Kendras. The new provision is allowing applicants to choose any appointment date from the earliest five available dates (working days) for scheduling/rescheduling an appointment for Passport related services. Earlier, the System used to offer only one available date to the applicants for seeking appointment for Passport related services,” the statement said. “No extra charge is levied for the services being rendered due to above two announcements.”
There was a temporary shortage of passport booklets which created some backlog in issuance of passports in December 2013 – February 2014 and April 2014-mid June 2014 due to stoppage of production of booklets by ISP Nashik due to shortage of raw material imported from abroad,” the statement said, “however, there is no backlog in the issuance of passports due to supply of passport booklets at the present.”
