Couple from AP gets assurance from Sushma Swaraj

Vijayawada: In a rare gesture of kindness, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj responded to an online petition by a septuagenarian couple from Andhra Pradesh and assured help in processing the passport applications of their disabled daughters without the two daughters or the aged parents visiting the passport office.

The couple started an online petition with Change.org, asking for exemption from personal appearance of their disabled daughters as they cannot assist them to the nearest passport office in Tirupati. Reaching out to the couple’s request, Ms Swaraj tweeted that she will make necessary arrangements and directed officials to look into the matter.

Rallapalli Ramasubbaiah of Nellore is 75 years old and a retired tahsildar; his wife Subbalaxmi is 70 years old. Their daughters R. Gayatridevi and R. Sravani are 72 per cent and 90 per cent disabled with polio and cannot venture out without support.

The couple has taken care of them for 40 years, and are worried that they will not be able to do so for much longer so they want their daughters to join their brothers who are settled abroad.

The current passport rules mandate every applicant's physical presence at the passport office for an interview. The couple's online petition, explaining why they could not do so, got a huge response, with 45,000 supporting petitioners.

After Ms Swaraj responded, the regional passport officers in Tirupati contacted the couple and are making the necessary arrangements.

A happy Ramasubbaiah admitted he had not really expected this kind of response from the minister. He had heard that she had helped someone with a passport problem earlier and so had started the petition.