HYDERABAD: With the external affairs ministry launching six passport seva kendras (PSKs) across the state, one can now sit at home, fix an appointment and visit the passport office at their convenience.Long, serpentine queues in front of passport offices will soon be a thing of the past.In a bold move of outsourcing sensitive government functions, the external affairs ministry launched the much anticipated six passport seva kendras across the state in PPP mode— three in Hyderabad and one each in Tirupati, Nizamabad and Vijayawada on Friday.This is in addition to the existing PSKs at Visakhapatnam taking the total tally in the state to seven. The external affairs ministry entered into a MoU with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which is the service provider, on a PPP model to establish the PSKs across the country.TCS will provide the technical and software solutions to the project and will be part of the application verification team at the PSKs.Already 22 such PSKs have been functioning elsewhere in the country and by March next every state in the country will be connected via these PSKs (77 in total).There will also be mini PSKs which will be set up in rural/interior areas to serve the people wanting to apply for a passport from those regions. DGP V Dinesh Reddy speaking on the occasion said these PSKs would serve as links between passport officials and the police to ensure timely and hassle free delivery.“Once people familiarise themselves with the new system, the role of touts and intermediaries in the process will stop.Also police verification can now be speeded up and tracked online,” he said.Initially the website (passportindia.gov.in) will process 900 online forms a day for Andhra Pradesh.Once the functioning becomes smooth, around 4000 applications will be released online per day. Currently Andhra Pradesh receives close to 2,000 applications daily. In 2010, AP received 4.5 lakh applications of which 3.7 were cleared, while this year around 4.3 lakh applications have been received till now The Procedure* Visit the website www.passportindia.gov.in n Register at the site and download the e-form provided, which is a more concise and userfriendly version of the previous passport application form.* After filling the e-form, upload it by logging in once again.On successful upload, an application reference number (ARN) will be provided.* Schedule an appointment with the passport seva kendra (PSK)or mini passport seva kendra from the list provided. Online appointment is mandatory to walk into a PSK for further processing. An appointment can be fixed anytime between 0900-1545 hrs on all week days from Monday to Friday.Only emergency and medical cases are permitted to enter the PSKs without prior appointment.* Carry a printout of the same to the PSK, along with the required documents.At the PSK, there is a provision to take your photo, as well as necessary copies of the documents required.Applicant management will be handled via electronic queue management or token system.* Officials of the Tata Consultancy Services (software providers and partners in the programme) will then verify the documents, upload it to the verifying officer and will respond in quick time whether the application is valid or needs some more documents.* Once it is approved, an acknowledgement slip would be given, which has the application number.One can track the delivery of the passport, as well as police verification status online at the given website.The entire process at the PSK would take less than an hour.* Since the entire process is done online, including sending details to the nearest police station the passport will be provided within 3 -5 days.It may otherwise take a month’s time instead of the present 2-3 month
Comments
0 comment