RPO takes initiative to increase passport applications

Tiruchirapalli, Nov 19 (UNI) The Regional Passport Office's initiative to reach out to the student community by organising special camps in college campuses for passport applications ended successfully, according to Regional Passport Officer, S Balachandran.

He said more than 3,000 applications were received through the five camps held in various colleges of the region, The fifth camp was held in a private engineering college here yesterday, in which, nearly 300 students filed their applications through Online.

Mr Balachandran said several employers were insisting on the candidates holding passports at the time of recruitment through campus interviews, as students found the special camps an opportunity to file their applications without difficulty.

He said normally students rush to the Passport Office at the 11th hour after getting selected for employment . Often, their applications could not be processed immediately due to delay in getting the police verification certificates.

The RPO said several colleges had approached the Passport Office for organising similar camps in their Institutions, but due to manpower constraints, the Office has been organising one camp every month in the colleges. Passports were issued to the students within five days of the date of receipt of police verification certificates and the entire process takes only about a month or so, he added.

He said the move was part of the Passport Office'ss initiative to popularise the Online applications.

UNI