Regional Passport Office speeding up to clear applications in Hyderabad
HYDERABAD: Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) in the city are clearing around 50,000 applications every month. In order to clear the additional load, officials are working on Saturdays.
A passport application is being cleared in a week’s time on the completion of the biomatrix procedure. The police clearance certificate (PCC) is procured within three days, said Regional Passport Officer Dasari Balaiah.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Balaiah said, “Passport Seva Kendras will function on Saturday in order to clear applications. Applicants should utilise the special drive. On an average, 3,200 applications are received each day of which 2,500 are cleared. This is being taken up in our kendras at Begumpet, Ameerpet, Tolichowki, Nizamabad and Karimnagar and two post office Kendras in Nalgonda and Khammam.”
He added, “In a week, after the completion of the biomatrix process, the passport is dispatched whereas for the PCC it takes three working days. We are taking all steps to expedite the process.”
The workload has increased after international restrictions on travel were removed and on resumption of overseas recruitments. These apart, regional passport offices have to also attend to renewal of passports that have lapsed.
In a significant development, unlike the 45 days it took to get a passport after submitting applications in March and April, now the waiting period is just one week.
