With the establishment of Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) in the city here under the jurisdiction of the Regional Passport Office (RPO), the Ministry of External Affairs has taken positive steps to deliver hassle-free passport services.
Reviewing the operations over the last one year, it was observed that a large number of applicants were not turning up at the PSKs despite taking valid appointment. This was not only resulting in lesser utilisation of processing capacity of the PSKs, but also causing denial of appointments for other genuine applicants. To resolve the issue of non-availability of appointments and reduce no-shows of applicants, the Ministry has launched the online payment system.
With the launch of online payment based appointments, the applicants will be required to make payment at the time of booking on the website of the Ministry of External Affairs. With this, it is hoped that only genuine applicants will book the appointment and number of no-shows will reduce.
The review revealed that the Passport Seva Project (PSP) has achieved a landmark figure of processing more than one crore passport applications since its inception in 2010.
Under the new process, payments can be made while booking an appointment on website www.passportindia.gov.in either by Credit/Debit card (both Master and Visa) or internet banking of the State Bank of India. The applicants can also use the Challan option provided on the website and deposit the money in the SBI branch after generating Challan online.
Further, instead of an applicant choosing the date and time slot of appointment, a system will automatically give earliest available appointment. The on-line payment system has been implemented since June 21 this year. The new system will be gradually rolled out to all PSKs across the country in coming weeks.
As part of e-Governance initiatives of the Ministry, the PSP has transformed the passport issuance system across India through an increased network of 77 PSKs.
The Ministry is improving governance in passport offices by focusing on citizen-centricity, service orientation and transparency. Other benefits of the PSP include longer working hours for the benefit of the citizens, 24X7 call centre support in 17 languages, complete digitisation and processing of application when applicant visits the PSK, reducing overall time spent and eliminating multiple visits, biometric data and photographs taken in highly secure environment and granting decision taken in front of the applicant, among others.