Online system complicates passport work: Applicants
Work completed in 30 days when the process was manual, now takes longer.
Getting a passport made continues to be a Herculean task, despite several initiatives by the Ministry of External Affairs, including making a user friendly application process available online.
Many blame the online application system for delaying the process of getting or renewing a passport, because Passport Seva Kendra is complex. Promises of quick disposal of cases ring hollow, with several applicants saying it was four to six months before they received their passports, something that took only about 30 days when the process was manual.
There are allegations that networks of touts flourish and applications routes through them are processed far quicker. For this, applicants end up paying Rs 7,000-10,000.
Many applicants complain that the online process of filling the application is too complicated and time consuming. The MEA launched the Passport Seva Project in 2010, under which the application procedure was made online and established 77 PSKs nationwide.
Jaswinder Marwah, an IT professional who lives in Delhi, said he registered thrice with the Passport Seva website in 2012, but could not get an appointment for a whole year. It was only in June 2013 that the passport authorities introduced an online payment fee of Rs 1,500 before booking an appointment. This entitled applicants to an appointment slot within two weeks.
“The window for booking a time slot opens at 6 p.m. every day and would close within 5-8 seconds. Thousands of people trying to get a slot at one given time would exhaust the webpage in less than a minute,” said Marwah.
She said she was shocked when she went to the PSK in Shalimar Place. “The staff was missing for long periods and the queues were long. At the acknowledgment receipt counter, the man at the desk suddenly sat up and started shouting and slapping himself. He said he was being forced to work for more than 12 hours a day,” she added.
Another applicant, Nitin Kumar, said, “It is risky to fill in the account details for online payments, as the webpage expires in seconds and one has to repeat the entire process again. Also, the officials at the PSKs are uncooperative.”
“I had applied in September. On the website, it showed that my police verification report was positive. I was told my passport was ready, but I am yet to receive it,” said Mohit Shrivastav of Bhopal.
An applicant based in Ghaziabad said that he had applied for the renewal of his passport almost a year ago but has not received it yet. The passport service authorities at the MEA did not respond to repeated calls.