Fw: Issue of Passports under Passport Seva System

['Saibaba SV' via Thatha_Patty]

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Issue of Passports within 3 days and for Taktal in one day – Under Passport 
Seva System.
Ministry of External Affairs has announced the issue of passports at the 
desired service levels – 3 days for normal passports with or without 
Post-Police verifications and only one day for Taktal Passports.

The minister of state in the ministry of external affairs gen. (dr) v. K. Singh 
(retd) informed Lok Sabha today in reply to a question that Under the Passport 
Seva System, the Government has endeavoured to streamline passport services, 
including processing time taken in acceptance, issuance and dispatch of 
passports. Under this System, the Government has envisaged the following 
‘desired service levels’ excluding the day of submission of passport 
application:(i) 3 working days in case of normal passports in ‘No’ or 
‘Post-Police verification’ cases;(ii) 3 working days plus the time taken for 
police verification in fresh passport cases requiring ‘Pre-Police verification’ 
and(iii) one working day in case of Tatkaal passports subject to production of 
requisite documents.
Under the Passport Seva Project (PSP), the Government has put in place a 
strengthened Grievance Redressal system whereby a National Call Centre with a 
toll free number (1800-258-1800), operating in 17 languages and on 24X7 basis, 
has been set up to cater to dissemination of information and handling of 
grievances. Also an e-mail based help desk has been set up which can be 
accessed by citizens through the www.passportindia.gov.in portal.
There is a Public Grievance Redressal Cell (PGRC) established in the CPV 
Division of the Ministry under the supervision of the Joint Secretary (Passport 
Seva Project) Chief Passport Officer. The Cell deals with grievances received 
through telephone, e-mail and post, as also references from various Government 
Offices such as President’s Secretariat, Prime Minister’s Office, Cabinet 
Secretariat, Central Vigilance Commission and Parliament Secretariat.
All the Passport Offices handle public grievances through the Centralised 
Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) website of the 
Government. Information and Facilitation Counters, Public Grievance Cell and 
Help Desks have been set up in Passport Offices to assist applicants and to 
attend to grievances/complaints expeditiously. The complaint/suggestion boxes 
are also installed at Passport Offices and Passport Seva Kendras. Passport 
Adalats, on need basis, are also conducted by Passport Offices to redress 
passport service grievances by dealing with citizens directly.To understand the 
citizen sentiments and to receive the feedback emanating from social media, 
especially generation-Y, Passport Seva program has a provision to capture 
inputs from Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and Youtube. Every Passport Office and 
the HQs of the Ministry (CPV Division) has Twitter/Facebook handler’s account 
and grievances are attended to regularly through these means as well.
The following steps have been taken to streamline the functioning of the 
extended network of 77 Passport Seva Kendras (all operational) and 18 
additional Passport Seva Laghu Kendras, now known as Passport Seva Kendras, 
(five of these have been made operational) as part of the Passport Seva Project 
(PSP), a Mission Mode Project, implemented by the Government with a view to 
comprehensively overhaul passport issuance system:Provision of modern features 
such as: (a) Increased network and capacity (b) anywhere, anytime access by 
anyone (c) state-of-the-art infrastructure (d) a 24 x 7 National Call Centre 
and e-mail based helpdesk (e) integration of PSP network with Police and India 
Post and (f) a toll-free helpline 1800-258-1800. An SMS message is sent to the 
citizen as soon as the passport is dispatched.
The online appointment system has been introduced to minimize waiting time for 
applicants. Appointments are allotted according to handling capacity of PSKs 
and are based on electronic queue management system. The number of public 
dealing counters has been increased from the erstwhile 350 to 1610 in the new 
system and public dealing hours have gone up from 4 hours to 7 hours a day.
The Government has (a) introduced online payment of passport fees or optionally 
through SBI Challans at the time of filing the application; (b) upgraded 
Passport Portal to make it more user-friendly; (c) launched mPassport Seva app. 
A premium optional paid SMS service is also available.
The facilities and amenities at the PSKs, include photocopying, food and 
beverage facilities, public phone booth, information kiosks, baby care room, 
newspapers and magazines and television. All the PSKs are air-conditioned. The 
Electronic Queue Management System ensures the ‘first-in-first-out’ principle 
in application processing.
In order to speed up passport issuance, Walk-in facility has been allowed for 
certain categories of services/ citizens having Application Registration Number 
(ARN) to enable them to apply for Tatkaal services; issue of Police Clearance 
Certificate (PCC); deletion of Emigration Check Required(ECR) status; inclusion 
of name of spouse in passport and new booklets where pages have been exhausted. 
Senior citizens (above 60 years); minors below 15 whose parents hold valid 
passports; differently-abled persons; central/state government servants and 
their spouse/dependent minor children, have also been permitted walk-in 
facility.
With a view to address the challenge of digital divide, especially in the rural 
hinterland, the Ministry in association with CSC e-Governance Services India 
Ltd. (which is promoted by the Department of Electronics and IT), has 
facilitated online filing of passport applications, through the vast network of 
over one lakh Common Service Centres (CSCs) across rural hinterland. Effective 
technical infrastructure is in place to ensure that the Passport Seva system is 
available for access at all times from any location.
The Minister further informed the members that the Government is aware that in 
some cases, there is delay and irregularity in issuance of passport. The 
process for Passport issuance sometimes becomes longer due to:(i) Delays in 
receipt of police verification reports within the stipulated time of 21 
days;(ii) Receipt of incomplete police reports;(iii) Increase in demand for 
passport to the tune of 30% in the last three years; and(iv) Shortage of 
manpower in the Central Passport Organization, to deal with the increasing 
demand for services for meeting the ‘desired service levels’.
II. As regards delay in passport issuance, the Government has taken several 
corrective steps. As police verification of personal particulars and 
antecedents of applicants is critical to Passport issuance, Passport Offices 
keep in touch with Police to expedite Police Verification reports (PVRs). The 
efforts have shown results as PVRs in Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Delhi, Goa, 
Haryana and Telangana are now being received within 3 weeks. As on 1st July, 
2015, out of 728 total police districts in the country, 654 districts have 
moved to the preferred DPHQ model.
III. Passport Offices conduct Passport Melas at PSKs on weekends from time to 
time for meeting high demand of passports.
IV. In order to provide closer and speedier passport services to people located 
far away from PSKs, Passport Seva Camps are being organized at various 
locations in the country.
V. The Ministry has circulated a detailed compilation of instructions for the 
guidance of Central Passport Organisation (CPO) officials as well as the staff 
of the Service Provider to speed up acceptance of documents and processing of 
passport applications, to avoid irregularities in issuance of passports.
VI. Inspections of PSKs and Passport Offices are conducted from time to time to 
improve service delivery.
VII. Steps have also been taken to fill up the existing vacancies by 
recruitment through the Staff Selection Commission (SSC), fast-track promotion 
and deputation, wherever applicable. Pending filling up of vacancies on regular 
basis, the Ministry has engaged about 450 Data Entry Operators in the Passport 
Offices against vacant non-gazetted posts. About 10 retired CPO officials have 
also been engaged in various Passport Offices as Consultants on contractual 
basis to mitigate shortage of staff.
VIII. In order to enhance the output and speed up passport issuance, the 
Government has implemented Productivity Linked Incentive Scheme (PLIS) to 
incentivise better performers. The Government has also instituted a system of 
awards to outstanding employees to recognise their efforts and contribution to 
good service delivery.

Download Ministry of External Affairs Press Release



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