Passport Applications: No more token system

HYDERABAD: Here is good news to passport applicants. They need not stand in long queues waiting endlessly in front of the Regional Passport Office to submit applications. They can, hereafter, go directly and submit their filled-in application forms with bona-fide proofs.To issue passports in a jiffy while redressing the applicants’ issues, Regional Passport Office will do away with the token system for submission of application forms with immediate effect.Regional Passport Officer K Srikar Reddy told mediapersons here on Friday that applicants can visit office between 9.15 am and 12 noon to submit their applications along with proofs at designated counters. Passports are issued within 30 days under normal service and seven days under the Tatkal scheme.An emergency counter, a one-stop counter that issues passports based on urgency to applicants who produce proof of urgency like employment letter, TOEFL examhall-ticket, medical treatment and Haj pilgrimage has been set up. Applications recommended by ministers, MPs and MLAs can directly submit their applications at the new VIP counter.The deputy passport officer will attend to grievances, if any, and clear pending applications. Applicants can meet him between noon and 1 pm.As many as seven Passport Seva Kendras will be set up across the state - 3 in Hyderabad and 1 each in Vijayawada, Nizamabd, Tirupati and Vizag. Besides, one mini-PSK will be set up in Karimnagar which will function under the jurisdiction of the Regional Passport Office. The PSKs in Vijayawada, Nizamabad and Tirupati will become functioning next month and the three in the state capital by the end of October.To tackle the problem of the increasing cases where fake residence proof is submitted, passport office has embarked on online verification of documents like voter ID card from the website of the Election Commission (EC) and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), and driving licence with the RTA. In the case of ration cards submitted as proof, the civil supplies department will be approached for verification.