Passport office sets record

Hyderabad, July 12 (UNI) The Regional Passport Office, Hyderabad has created a National Record by issuing 61,243 passports in June 2006.

Informing this to media at a press conference here yesterday, Regional Passport Officer B Bala Bhaskar said the office has launched a special drive to extend several facilities to the people for expeditious issue of passports.

Steps have been taken by the office for reducing the duration of issue of passports to 30 days from 45 after receiving the applications. The working hours have been increased for the purpose, he said.

This year nearly two lakh passports had been issued between January to June, he added.

Announcing the new initiatives of the office, he said a token system will be introduced from next month to avoid heavy rush in the office. Specific timings will be allotted to the applicants to submit their applications every day, he said.

There would not be any police verification to passport renewals from tomorrow, he added.

He said there was a proposal to receive passport applications in speed post centres in the city. The Interactive Voice Response Systems (IVRS) for information regarding passport procedures will be extended to all telephone and mobile services, apart from the present BSNL services soon, he said.

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