Applicants doubled after new passport rule relaxations

JALANDHAR: Owing to the cancellation of birth certificate, to be provided as a date of birth (DOB) proof, the passport applicants have doubled, compared to last year.

The Union external affairs ministry (MEA) last December had cancelled the mandatory requirement of the birth certificate while applying for passport. School leaving certificate, matriculation certificate, PAN card and Aadhaar card can be submitted while applying for passport. The MEA also removed the requirement of having the name of both the parents on passport documents.

The regional passport office Jalandhar that caters to seven districts; Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Nawanshahr, Hoshiarpur, Pathankot, Moga and Gurdaspur is about to cross the applications received last year.

As per information, regional office Jalandhar had issued 2.97 lakh passports after receiving over 3 lakh application till December 31st, 2016. The office received over 2.8 lakh applications till July 26.

Regional passport officer Harmanbir Singh Gill said, “The inflow of applicants has increased. Currently, there is no pendency. We are dealing with the cases systematically,” said Gill. “We have been conducting periodic passport melas for clearing the pending cases,” he said.

Jalandhar regional passport office along with three passport sewa kendras at Nakodar Chowk, Mission Chowk, and Hoshiarpur collectively deal with as many as 600 appointments daily.

The regional passport office has shortlisted SBS Nagar and Moga district ,where the head post office will be converted to passport sewa kendra (POPSK).

As per the MEA directions, POSKs should be at least 80 km from the regional passport office. As Phagwara falls within that radius, it was removed from the list.

“The details for the two sewa kendras were sent to MEA. Both the centres will be operational within four months,” said Gill. POSKs willbe useda submission centres, like passport sewa kendras where people can submit applications.