In a letter to Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Rourkela BJP MlA Dilip Ray has urged her for opening a Passport Seva laghu Kendra (PSlK) at Rourkela.
Ray has mentioned that the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has taken up steps to operationalise 77 Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) and 16 PSlKs across the country as parts of the Passport Seva Project. But Odisha has only one PSK in Bhubaneswar which is over 500 km from Rourkela whereas the residents of other States have the benefit of availing the facility at more than one centre.
Though it is mandatory nowadays to make applications online, it is imperative for one to appear personally to give photograph and biometrics to complete the process. It is also always not possible for students and PSU employees to avail leave and go to Bhubaneswar to update the requisite data as per the prevalent passport norms. The practice costs money and time, Ray has pointed out.
Rourkela is Odisha’s third largest city having the Rourkela Steel Plant, MCl, BSl and NIT. Over ten thousand students read in this city, which serves as nucleus industrial area covering neighbouring districts of Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Bargarh, Deogarh and Keonjhar and shares border with Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
Ray has further stated that though the MEA has been holding passport camps at Rourkela from time to time, it is only a temporary solution. A PSlK should be opened at Rourkela with immediate effect with the help of allotment of a house from the RSP authorities.