Regional office issues record number of passports

Vijayawada, Apr 8 (UNI) The Regional Passport Office in Hyderabad has issued 4,37,239 passports during the year 2007, Regional Passport Officer B Bala Bhaskar today said.

Talking to newspersons here after inaugurating a new passport office he said the office had developed a daily proformance report for monitoring the work in various sections to ensure smooth flow of applications for processing.

The Regional Office had issued the largest number of passports in the country, he said, adding, it had achieved ISO-9001:2000 certification from the Bureau of Indian Standards for quality management work.

He claimed that the office was the only passport office in the country in conducting passport 'adalats'. More than 100 of them were conducted so far. They would be conducted in the city also shortly, he added.

The process of accepting application forms has been decentralised, he said, adding the applicants could now file their applications at 'E-Seva Centres' in twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad.

As many as 79 speed post centres in the state had started accepting applications forms and two special counters were opened at Begumpet and Old City for the convenience of the applicants, he added.

He said an 'online' service would be available at the passport office here from May 1. It would facilitate applicants to submit their applications on line, visiting the website www.passport.gov.in or www.ap.nic.in/passport.

UNI CS DS 1531